Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold
by Genevieve Kelly
Summary: The group is given a tough case, where they believe that the killer they're searching for is dangerous and highly unstable. If that wasn't enough, things become much more difficult when they have a run in with one of their main suspects, severely effecting Detective Ryan. His friends try to help him, but as the trouble only continues to escalate, Ryan's life becomes on the line.
1. Chapter 1

Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold

Chapter One

A strung out, seventeen year old boy, high on crystal meth, ran fast through the halls of an old apartment complex somewhere in the lower Manhattan area with the three lead detectives from the NYPD, followed close behind by a writer, turned police consultant, right behind him. Beckett and Castle split off from Ryan and Esposito when they all lost sight of the young man as they went in different directions.

As Esposito and Ryan continued their search for him, they were suddenly interrupted by a couple having a loud domestic dispute. Ryan somehow ended up getting stuck in the middle of it, but as his partner turned back to help him when the couple's fighting began to escalate to violence, Ryan shouted out for Esposito to continue his search for their suspect. Javier nodded, then ran off, while Ryan stayed behind to take care of the fight.

After punching the husband and roughly tackling him to the ground, Kevin quickly hand-cuffed both him and his wife, who was still trying to kick and scratch both her husband and himself, to the bed and the cupboard on opposite sides of the room inside their apartment, then Ryan finally took off after his partner to continue the pursuit of their suspect.

Within a few minutes, Ryan suddenly heard the sound of a struggle from an apartment that had been recently burned in a fire. As he ran toward it and turned the corner into the large, scorched, and vacant room, he found the young man they had been chasing after, who was currently holding a gun to Javier's head as he stood directly behind the detective. The meth in the kid's system gave him super-like strength and allowed him to overpower Esposito, which wasn't easy.

As soon as Ryan saw that his partner's life was at stake, Ryan raised his gun higher toward them and then called out, "Let him go, Greg! I really don't want to have to shoot you, but I will if it comes down to either you or my partner."

Kevin noticed that the young man was standing with his back to a large hole in the floor and was slowly backing toward it with his partner still in his grasp as the kid shouted out, "That whore deserved what she got! I didn't want things to happen this way, but I couldn't help it. He just became angry."

"Who became angry, Greg?" Ryan asked. "Listen, I promise you, we will talk. If you didn't do this… if you didn't kill her, then we can help you if just let my partner go and help us catch the real man that did this. Please, drop the gun."

"You're lying!" the kid shouted again as he tightened his grip on his gun against Esposito's head. "You don't care about me and I won't rat him out! Now, get out of here or I will kill him!"

Javier finally spoke up saying, "If there's anyone you can trust, Greg, it is my partner. I've seen that look on his face before. It's the look he gives when he sympathizes with someone we come into contact with during a case, whom he believes there's more to them. We can help you."

The young man shook his head angrily and then replied, "No one can help me and I won't go to prison again."

As he said this, Greg pulled back on the glock of his gun and was about to pull the trigger. All of a sudden, Kevin fired his own weapon and the bullet struck Greg right in the end of his shoulder, a miraculous shot, causing Greg to fall backward through the hole in floor below him and down to the floor beneath them. The action was enough for Esposito to break from the kid's hold on him before he fell back with him and after he did, he briefly stared down at the kid's body, as the shot and the fall had killed him, then turned to look up at Ryan, who was now staring ahead in shock of what he had just done as his hands shook while his weapon remained in his hands.

"Nice shot!" Javier began. "Ryan?"

Ryan didn't answer as he continued to stare at nothing, when both Beckett and Castle suddenly burst in the room, the detective with her gun raised up as she and the writer had heard the shot. She lowered it when she found that Ryan and Esposito were the only ones in the room and then noticed the look on Ryan's face as she moved forward and turned to look at him.

"What on earth just happened?" Kate asked as she looked between Ryan and Esposito. "Kevin, are you all right?"

Four days ago…

Kate was busy scrambling around Rick's apartment to get dressed after she had spent the night there and then shouted, "Come on, Castle, get a move on! We're going to be late!"

As he finally came from out of the bathroom, Rick responded, "I'm almost ready. Why exactly are we in such a hurry anyway? Besides, it's not like I have a set time to be at work, seeing as I do not actually work there. I am only a consultant, remember?"

"Believe me, I remember," Kate answered. "But it looks like we've got ourselves another murder to solve."

"Already?" Castle asked in surprise. "It's barely after six o'clock. Can't murderers be a little more considerate when it comes to the time they decide to kill their victims or at least when they decided to dump their bodies?"

Beckett rolled her eyes and replied, "First of all, criminals hate cops and so I am sure that they don't mind that they're inconveniencing us and second, we have no idea how long this victim has been dead. We won't until we get to the crime scene and talk to Lanie. Now please, let's go."

When Kate and Castle arrived at the crime scene, they found that there was blood splattered everywhere and that the room had been trashed. Their victim was lying face up on a bed inside a hotel room at one of the finer establishments within the city with several stab wounds all over her body and from the way she was dressed, or not really dressed as she was dressed down to her very expensive lingerie, as well as the her makeup and jewelry, they had a feeling that the woman was a very highly paid call girl.

"Wow, whoever did this to this poor woman had a lot of rage toward her," Castle said softly to Beckett, who was standing close beside him, with sadness etched across her face.

Kate nodded as she responded, "You're right. I've seen way too many crime scenes and dead bodies. You wouldn't think I'd be surprised by the horrible kinds of things people do to each other anymore, but I always am. This woman suffered."

Rick nodded and then quickly asked, "That's good isn't it? I mean, it's not good that she suffered obviously, but if she did, then wouldn't she have screamed? Maybe the neighbors came out into the halls to try to find out what was going on. Maybe, someone caught a glimpse of her killer."

"Ryan and Esposito are going from door to door right now," Lanie answered as she was working over the body to try to pinpoint the exact cause of death, aside from the obvious stab wounds, as well as her time of death. "However, I don't think they're really going to find out much talking to the other guests on this floor unless they saw someone come in or leave when she was killed."

"Why is that, Lanie?" Kate asked in confusion. "She had to have screamed, unless…"

Lanie finished her sentence as she said, "Unless she was given a drug to knock her unconscious before he killed her, which I doubt, seeing as monsters that can do this like their victims to suffer, or she was restrained and tightly gagged, but I'm not finding any evidence of that either. However, some kind of drug had to have been used, possibly one strong enough to paralyze her. I also see something that is not on the victim, but around her. The bed isn't disheveled like it would be if she struggled, or even had sex. She had rough sex and then was killed somewhere else within this room, then moved onto this bed and posed. I'm guessing that our killer touched up her makeup and fixed her hair after he was done as well."

Castle looked around the room, back down at the victim, and then turned to face Beckett as he replied, "Okay, so she didn't scream or couldn't scream, but this kind of rage cannot happen without the monster letting off his rage. You cannot kill someone like this and remain quiet. It's impossible."

"You're right," Kate asked and then looked at him again. "And how do you know this?"

"I did my research," Castle answered. "You know… for my books."

Ryan walked into the room, followed by Esposito, and then spoke up saying, "Well, if she or he did scream, the neighbors didn't hear anything, or they're all lying. None of them saw anything either, but don't you think that you would notice a man covered in blood running through the hotel or outside it to leave?"

His partner replied, "Maybe they are all lying. None of this makes any sense."

"This case is going to be a strange one and long," Rick said in frustration. "What now?"

"Now, we work on trying to figure out who she is and who it is she works for," Beckett responded. "Hopefully, the rest will fall into place once we start to put the pieces together. No one deserves this. We have to find the man responsible for this."

Rick answered, "Hopefully, before another victim."


	2. Chapter 2

Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold

Chapter Two

Later that afternoon, Lanie sent Beckett a text to let her know that she had found the identity of the woman, who was now lying in the morgue after being brutally stabbed to death, as far as the NYPD's coroner could tell as she spent the next several hours after she had arrived back at the station and began to examine her body. When both Beckett and Castle walked into the room, they found Lanie leaning over the body as she was staring close at something inside the woman's stomach.

"I got your text, Lanie," Kate spoke up as Lanie didn't appear to have heard them come in. "You said you found out who this woman was?"

"Yes," the coroner answered as she stood up straight and looked between Beckett and Castle. "Sorry, I was just looking closer at one of the stab wounds. It looks like you were right. This woman is a call girl by the name of Vivian Kirkpatrick, also known as, I kid you not, Scarlett O'Hara."

Castle got that look in his eye, the look that told the others in the room that he had just thought of a new wild theory, and then exclaimed, "I take it back. This case is going to be awesome."

Beckett rolled her eyes as she asked, "And why is that, Castle? Is it just because her call girl name is Scarlett O'Hara? It's not very original."

"No, but what are the odds that a beautiful woman with long, dark, curly hair like this, whose first name happens to be Vivian, would turn out to be someone, who has taken on the persona of that famous Southern Belle from Georgia," Castle replied.

"So what?" Lanie responded.

Castle stared at her as he continued, "So what? Scarlett O'Hara had a very similar look to our victim here and her name is the same as that of the famous actress that played her in Gone with the Wind, the great Vivian Leigh. What are the odds?"

Beckett glared at him and then said, "It's perfect luck, or maybe not, seeing as she's dead. What exactly does this have to do with her death?"

"What if Vivian didn't just make herself out to look like Miss. Scarlett and take on her name, but what if she took on her attitude as well and that's what killed her?" Rick answered. "Scarlett O'Hara was the queen of bitchiness and snobbery. Her killer may not have appreciated it when he called for her to join him last night. She could have said something to him that set him off."

"Do you honestly believe that a snooty comment or two was what caused our killer to do all this to her?" Kate asked as she pointed at several of the wounds in the woman's body. "Come on, Castle. That theory is weak, especially for you."

Rick shrugged and then replied, "You're probably right, but there is a possibility that I'm right too. I mean, with the world like it is today, I wouldn't be surprised if our killer killed this woman because she called him a… a… a butthead."

Kate nodded and responded, "Yeah, me neither now that you put it that way."

"Are you two finished yet?" Lanie asked as she finally spoke up again.

"Yes, sorry about that Lanie," Beckett answered.

Castle nodded and quickly added, "Me too."

Lanie smiled and then looked back down at the body as she continued, "After I got her fingerprints and put them through the databases, a police record popped up, which is how I found out who this woman is. Sixteen years ago, when she was only sixteen years old, she had been arrested for prostitution. I swear these girls get younger every day. It's terrible. Anyway, she wasn't in jail long since it was her first offense and she had just started out. She was given a big break. Sadly, it looks like she didn't allow it to help her out, seeing as she's here on my table, or my guess is that she couldn't get out. After you both suggested at the crime scene that she looked like a highly paid call girl, I did some research from a few web sites for this class of call girls while I was waiting for a test I ran to be finished. I found her, which is how I got Vivian's other name, at . This woman had an accent all right, but it certainly wasn't Southern. It was Russian and it turns out, she was originally from Ukraine. According to her police record, she was shipped over to the states from Russia when she was only fifteen. I have a feeling that she was probably forced into prostitution."

"That's awful," Castle replied sadly as he stared down at her. "Is there anything in her record that says what happened to this woman's parents or any other family she may have?"

"Unfortunately no," Lanie responded. "I'm afraid that's going to have to be your job. Go out and find the monster that did this to her, will you?"

Kate nodded her head and answered, "You know I will."

Once they both left the room, Rick looked over at Kate and then asked, "Are you doing all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied, then turned to look at him and said, "I was just thinking, it's possible that maybe Vivian finally fought to get out of this life and whoever is in charge of her, the people that run that web site maybe, found out about it. They may have killed her to keep her from leaving and running to the police."

"It's a good theory, but the way that the crime scene was laid out, it looks more like a crime of passion," Castle responded. "I mean, the amount of times our guy stabbed her…"

Beckett interrupted, "I know. Let's just start by heading over to where our web site, , originates from and have a chat with the scum that works there to see if they can't be of some help to us. I'll have Ryan work on trying to locate any of her loved ones, while Esposito goes off to track down the sleaze, who paid for the room and ordered out for our not so Southern Belle."

As Beckett walked forward, Castle paused as he called out, "You know, in all the great murder novels and movies, it's rarely the guy who called for the call girl to come up to his room, unless they're in a sleazy, rat infested hotel, which clearly this isn't the case. I doubt it's him. It's probably some rich guy, who has enough money to buy his freedom, even if… when we catch him."

"Way to show the optimism, Castle," Kate answered as Castle ran to catch up with her. "Maybe we'll get lucky. I think we're due for some luck by now."

"Oooh, what if our killer's name turns out to be either Rhett or Clark?" Rick said out loud as another thought suddenly came to his mind. "Wouldn't that be something?"

Beckett rolled her eyes again, then replied, "Right, and it's possible that Vivian was married three times, after her first two husbands died. I highly doubt it."

Castle smiled and responded, "Stranger things have happened."


	3. Chapter 3

Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold

Chapter Three

Within fifty-five minutes, Detective Esposito arrived at the address his partner had found for him, the home address of the man, who had paid for the room at the hotel, which wasn't really hard to find like they had expected it to be, seeing as most of the men that call for call girls and other prostitutes don't like to give out their real information to the hotel clerks in order to avoid problems and embarrassment.

After knocking on the door three times, a man finally opened up and began to just stare at Esposito until the detective finally introduced himself saying, "John Mitchell, I'm Detective Esposito with the NYPD. I'm here to ask you a few questions about the woman you were with last night, a Vivian Kirkpatrick. I'm here to…"

Mitchell interrupted, "Did my wife send you here? Look detective, my wife and I are in the middle of a nasty divorce and I've been stressed lately. I just needed someone to help me to take my mind off of…"

"I'm not here to help settle some domestic problem between you and your soon to be ex-wife, Mr. Mitchell," Esposito cut him off as well as he pushed his way a little farther into the suspect's home. "I'm here to talk to you about what happened between you and Vivian last night in the hotel room you paid for. Did you and she get into some kind of argument that led to an altercation?"

"An altercation?" the man asked in surprise. "What are you talking about? I left the room after she finished her business and came home. What happened? Is Vivian all right?"

Javier looked at him directly in his eyes in order to see the man's reaction as he responded, "I'm afraid Vivian was murdered last night in your hotel room, which you had paid for."

The suspect asked with more stupidity and confusion than sympathy, "She was really murdered?"

"I'm a homicide detective, Mr. Mitchell," Esposito answered. "I wouldn't be here otherwise. I'm going to ask you again, what happened between you too last night?"

"Nothing, I swear, all right?" he replied arrogantly. "She did her thing and like I said before, I left when she finished. I guess she was expecting it to last longer than what it did and she started to get real upset. When I asked her what was wrong, she said she had nowhere to go. She seemed worried about something. However, that wasn't what I had come there for, so I told her that she could stay for the rest of the night and I left. I kind of felt bad for her, you know? I told the front desk on my way out to make sure she was gone by this morning, in order to make sure she wouldn't take advantage of me."

Esposito responded sarcastically, "You're a generous man. What time did you leave?"

John answered, "It was shortly after two in the morning. You can ask the clerk at the front desk. They probably have a security camera that will prove it."

"I'll be sure to check that out," Javier replied. "In the meantime, don't leave the state for any reason. We'll be in touch if I find out you aren't telling me the truth. Have a good day, Mr. Mitchell."

"Yeah, yeah," the man responded as he shut his door behind the detective after Esposito walked back out of the house.

Javier walked back to his car and sat in the driver's seat as he called up his partner, then as he came over the line Esposito spoke up saying, "Ryan, I was just about to head back over to the hotel to talk to the front desk clerk in order to check out our first suspect's alibi because the clerk that was there this morning was of no help to us whatsoever. How's the search for Vivian's next of kin going?"

Ryan sounded sad as the younger detective answered, "_So far, this woman was all alone. All records indicate she has no family and no one was there to help her when she was arrested sixteen years ago. What's worse is that she was kidnapped two years before that in Ukraine and has remained listed as a missing child, but her last known family members in Ukraine are all deceased now. This job really sucks sometimes, man._"

"You're telling me," Javier replied. "How about you meet me at the hotel? We can check out our suspect's alibi together and have a chat with the clerk, who was there last night when our victim arrived."

"_Yeah, all right,_" Ryan responded. "_It'll be good to get out of here for a while. See you in a few._"

Meanwhile…

After Beckett got the actual address of the call girl service where their victim worked from one of the department's techs, Kate and Castle headed over in hope of talking with whoever it was that was in charge. On the whole trip there, Castle kept going on and on about what he expected the service center to look like, as well as how he expected the owner to look like and act. Beckett interpreted his description to be like that of a woman similar to Cruella DeVil. Rick only laughed until he realized he might be right and if that was the case, he didn't look forward to meeting the woman.

Kate spoke up saying, "Don't worry, Castle. I doubt the owner is at all what you're imaging her to be. Besides, we don't even know if it is a she, but if it turns out you're right, don't worry. I've got my gun with me. I'll protect you from the mean lady."

Rick answered, "Cruella DeVil wasn't a mean lady. She was evil. I mean, for crying out loud her last name is spelled the same as the word devil. That isn't just a coincidence."

After they both walked into the large, beautiful home office of the call service, they walked up to the desk in the lobby to talk with the young woman sitting there, while a few of the center's employees were sitting around or talking with whom Castle and Beckett suspected were some of their clients.

"Excuse me, Miss.," Kate began. "I'm Detective Beckett with the NYPD and this is my colleague, a consultant, Richard Castle. We're here…"

"I know who Mr. Castle is," the young woman interrupted as she blushed when she looked up at Castle. "I've read all of your books. You're a great writer."

Castle nodded as Kate grinned, then turned back to the receptionist and continued, "We're here to talk to your boss about one of the women that work here, a Vivian Kirkpatrick. Is she or he here?"

The woman looked over at Beckett in confusion and then replied, "I don't understand. What do you mean you want to talk about Vivian? Is everything all right?"

"I'm afraid not," Kate responded softly. "Sadly, she was found dead this morning inside a hotel room. We were hoping to talk to your boss about her, in hope of getting some information that might help us to find out who killed her."

"I'm afraid you can't talk to her anymore," the woman answered as she stared up at them both in confusion.

Kate looked over at Castle, then back to the woman and asked, "What do you mean we can't talk with her. Is she out of town on business?"

The receptionist shook her head and then quickly replied, "No, no. It's just that… You don't know? Vivian Kirkpatrick isn't one of these girls. She is our boss. She owns and runs this place."

"Whoa!" Castle said in surprise. "I totally was not expecting that."


	4. Chapter 4

Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold

Chapter Four

Beckett looked over at Castle in surprise, then turned back to the young woman sitting down at the desk in front of them and asked, "Vivian Kirkpatrick was your boss?"

The receptionist answered, "Yes, she has been for a little over a year now."

"Then, why was she listed among the profiles of the rest of these women on your web site?" Castle asked. "I've never heard of an owner of a call girl service, excuse my poor choice of words, pimping himself, or herself in this case, out as well, not unless it was a very special client."

"She didn't go out very often, but there were special cases," the woman replied. "She was one of these girls before she became the owner of the place. It was left to her when our previous owner passed on and we are happy, were happy, to have had her. In this business, it's rare to have a boss that is as kind as she was."

Kate nodded and then responded, "Thank you for your time, Miss….?"

The woman answered, "Gloria, Gloria Price. Oh, I am not sure if this will help, but Vivian was always very sad, especially last night. She would never tell me or the other women why, but I suspect it was because she arrived here from Ukraine after being abused for a long time. I've seen abused women. I know what they look like."

"Thank you," Beckett replied again, then she and Castle turned and left the building.

"I have a feeling that maybe Vivian wasn't really the one who was in charge here," Kate responded as soon as they arrived back at her car. "Obviously they all believed it, but there's something that doesn't feel right. What little we know about our victim, doesn't seem to fit a woman that is capable of running this business."

Castle nodded and said, "You think there's a man behind the curtains so to speak."

Beckett answered, "I do. Let's head back to the station and get working on trying to dig through everything we can find on this place, including its web site. I have a feeling that Vivian was killed because of someone involved here."

"Do you think that the owner before Vivian was killed like her too?" Castle asked.

"I'm not sure, but it's a pretty strange coincidence," Kate replied. "I think I'll have Lanie do what she can to try to find out the woman's cause of death. Maybe something will come up."

Castle responded, "Good call."

Later that evening…

It had been several hours since Beckett and Castle arrived back at the station, followed by Ryan and Esposito, who had confirmed John Mitchell's alibi. The four of them had been pouring over all the information they could find on the agency and so far, all they've managed to find out was that everything they were doing, whether it was looked down upon or not, was completely legal. They also found everything that they could on their victim, hoping that maybe they were wrong in thinking that her death was connected to her job.

Each of the detectives and the writer were all beginning to burn out and soon Esposito leaned back in his chair and said, "So far, this is getting us nowhere. What more do you actually expect us to find, Beckett?"

"I don't know; something," Kate answered in frustration. "Maybe I was wrong. If there are people working behind the scenes, they certainly know how to cover their tracks. The more we learn about the company, the more confused I become. This place sounds too perfect."

"I think you're right about this place being crooked, but what if they aren't the ones responsible for Vivian's death," Ryan spoke up saying. "I mean, what if the person that killed her isn't at all linked to them."

Castle smiled and replied, "You mean they hired someone low on the totem pole to kill her so that we won't be able to link anything back to them. We're never going to bring whoever they are down."

Kate responded, "Since when do you give up so easily?"

"So far, none of this has been easy," Castle answered. "We've been searching through employee records, building paperwork, and a ton of other information about that place and we've got nothing even suspicious. Everyone there seems on the up and up."

"Well it's obvious that someone there's not exactly on the up and up as you say, Castle," Lanie replied as she walked into the offices.

Kate looked up at her and asked, "Were you able to find something on the owner before our victim, Lanie?"

The coroner responded, "It wasn't easy, but I was eventually able to gain access to Jane Rowe's medical records and got permission to have her body excavated once I found a discrepancy in the paperwork. All notes described that Jane committed suicide by taking pills. However, there was mention of one of the drugs in her system that is not given out in pill form. This drug is impossible to get, unless you have connections. I won't get the tests back until tomorrow at best, but I will bet you my left arm she was murdered too. I did manage to find something else that might help you though."

"Please tell me it's something that will help us nail someone for this?" Castle begged.

"No, but I did find out from one of the tests that already came back that Jane has a brother, who has a pretty hefty record," Lanie answered.

Castle replied, "That's great! I mean, maybe her brother suspected that Vivian was responsible for his sister's death and decided to get revenge."

Beckett nodded, "You may be right, but our search for him will have to begin in the morning. Go home and get some sleep, all of you. You're going to need it."

"Thank you," Esposito responded and then turned to his partner. "Come on, man. Let's get you home to Jenny. Didn't the two of you have something special planned for tonight?"

"I had to call her to let her know we needed to postpone," Ryan answered. "She wasn't very happy. Let's just say, I may be on the couch tonight."

As the two began to walk out of the office, Beckett called out, "Just tell her to call me if she doesn't believe that I put you up to staying late tonight. Thank you guys!"

After they left, Castle turned to his girlfriend and said, "By the way, I never said I was giving up. I was just frustrated, that's all."

"Whatever, Castle," she replied. "Let's go back to place tonight. Isn't Martha still rehearsing for her latest play still?"

"Good call," he responded. "I really don't want to walk in on what we did last night."

Kate shook her head and then spoke up again saying, "Right. Alexis is lucky she only has to be there for some of the crazy now. Why do you think we spend more time at my place than yours?"

As Beckett turned to walk out, Castle looked flabbergasted as he felt he had been played and then called out, "I knew it!"


	5. Chapter 5

Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold

Chapter Five

The next day, Beckett sent Ryan and Esposito to the only address they had on file for Jane Rowe's brother, Tommy. When they arrived and announced who they were, Tommy tried to make a run for it, but it wasn't long before they had the kid cornered on the roof top of the apartment building, or so they thought. As Javier moved forward to attempt to make the arrest, the teenager bolted toward the edge and tried to jump across to the roof across the way, despite Ryan's plea for him to stop as he could see that the building was too far. Unfortunately, one of the bricks he grabbed onto in hope to pull himself up was loose and Tommy lost his grip, causing him to fall to his death on the ground below them.

The two detectives only stared in shock as he fell and then Esposito pulled out his cell phone to call for Lanie and her team to take care of things. Ryan shook his head and turned away, not wanting to look down anymore. Once Esposito finished, he make a second call to Beckett.

Javier noticed his partner's face of disappointment once he finished and spoke up saying, "You tried to stop him, Ryan. The kid was foolish to think he could have made that jump. He was most likely involved in his sister's…"

Ryan interrupted, "We don't know that."

"Why else would he run if he wasn't hiding something that he was too afraid to get caught with or to talk with us about?" Esposito replied.

"Because he was most likely involved with a gang or with the wrong people," Ryan responded. "Or maybe your right, I don't know, but he didn't have to die like that."

Esposito looked at him oddly and asked, "You don't usually get all worked up about a suspect's death like this. Is everything all right?"

Ryan smiled and then answered, "I'm fine. I'm just frustrated and tired. I didn't get much sleep last night because Jenny and I got into an argument and I ended up sleeping on the couch. I was stupid to tell her she was being ridiculous."

"What started the whole thing?" Javier asked jokingly.

"She's getting tired of me getting home so late," Kevin replied softly. "She knew what she was getting into when she agreed to marry me, but deep down, it bothers her that one day I may not come home at all. Any spouse of a cop would feel this way."

Javier's amused expression faded at his partner's admission and then he responded, "I promised her that I wouldn't let that happen. Don't worry, everything will blow over and the two of you will be back to being all lovey dovey in no time."

Ryan smiled again and then asked, "I take it that Beckett and Castle are on their way?"

"Yep," Esposito answered as he headed to the roof's exit, followed by Ryan. "When they get here, we're going to start questioning Tommy's neighbors. Who knows, we might learn something that can help us with our case."

"I doubt the people around here are going to want to talk to us, especially when they learn that the kid is dead now," Ryan replied.

It wasn't long before Beckett and Castle arrived at the scene and when they did, the lead detective leaned down to observe the body, then turned to her friends as she asked, "Did Tommy say anything to you before he died?"

Esposito responded, "No, he didn't get the chance to. We showed up and announced who we were, then he just took off. Ryan tried to stop him from jumping, but it was no use."

"He must have been spooked if he thought jumping across an impossible distance was better than talking with a couple of cops," Castle said. "Maybe we'll get lucky to learn something from them."

'That's what I said," Esposito answered.

After spending a few hours trying to talk with the neighbors and other kids in the area, the detectives so far had learned nothing as Ryan had suspected. Esposito finally suggested they stop and get lunch before heading back to the station when a teenage girl slowly walked over to Beckett, telling her that she had information for them about Tommy.

Beckett told Ryan and Esposito to go on ahead, then she and Castle turned back to her and spoke up saying, "If there's anything you can tell us about why Tommy might have tried to run from us, we'd certainly appreciate it."

The girl slowly replied, "Tommy was a trouble maker around here. He and his buddies were into drugs, whether they were selling or using, but he and I were still friends. He told me he blamed himself for what happened to his sister."

"Did he tell you what happened to his sister?" Castle asked. "We're investigating her death."

"No, he didn't say, but I will bet you anything that drugs were involved," she responded. "I'm only talking to you because he helped me off the streets. I owed him and if he was thinking clearly, he wouldn't have tried to run, at least not across to another roof."

Beckett asked, "Are you saying he was on drugs when our detectives came to question him?"

The girl answered, "Yeah, he was on drugs. He's been using them a whole lot more since his sister died. You know, he did say one thing to me the night he found out about her, repeated it over and over, but it didn't make any sense to me. I assumed it was a name, a nickname possibly, but so far, I haven't figured out who he was talking about. It was Kort; that's all."

"Kort," Castle said. "I suppose that could be someone's name."

"Thank you for your help," Kate spoke up again as she held out her card to her.

She shook her head as she replied, "No thanks, detective. If anyone around here caught me with a detective's business card, I'd get jumped."

After she finished talking, she took off and Castle and Beckett just stared after her until Beckett turned to him and said, "All right, we know that Tommy was into drugs and maybe his sister dipped into them from time to time too. It's possible that whoever this Kort is, if Kort is indeed a person, maybe he was a dealer. When we get back to the station, we need to run the name through the databases."

"What happened to our theory that someone within Jane and Vivian's business was involved?" Castle asked.

"That's still the main theory, but it won't hurt to try all different angles," she responded. "Kort may be the low person on the totem pole."

Castle nodded and said, "Right and that's why you're the detective."


	6. Chapter 6

Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold

Chapter Six

Over the next two days, the three detectives, as well as Castle, worked on trying to follow up on their newest lead. Beckett's computer finally announced the results from their search through the databases, letting them know information on Kort had finally come back with something. It turned out that Kort was indeed a person, a known fifty-five year old drug dealer and user named Donovan Kort, who had been in and out of prison when he was younger, but not for many years since.

Beckett explained the information to the others and then spoke up saying, "It looks like just before he had gone to prison the last time around, he had a son, who is now seventeen years old."

Castle looked at the computer screen as he continued, "Apparently, like father like son. He has taken after his father, going in and out of prison for various charges from drug possession to assault of a police officer while refusing arrest. I don't know about you, but the kid sounds like a great candidate to me."

"Is there a reason why neither father nor son have been given a longer prison term for their countless charges?" Esposito asked.

"Not to mention an explanation as to why they both seem to have disappeared from the radar?" Ryan added. "It's rare for people with rap sheets like that to just change into normal members of society, especially when drugs are involved."

Beckett shook her head and then Castle responded, "No doubt they probably had an excellent lawyer. Drug dealing pays bukoo bucks."

Kate replied, "Yeah, life really doesn't seem fair."

"You're telling me," Esposito scoffed. "Is there any chance that there's a known address for either one of them, or are we going to have to find them the hard way?"

"There's an address all right, but what are the odds that this guy will be cooperative?" Castle asked.

Beckett answered, "Slim to none. Ryan, you and Esposito head off to the last known address we've got on file for Kort's son, while Castle and I go to talk with Kort himself."

Ryan and Esposito stood and replaced their service guns back in their holsters on their belts, then Ryan responded, "You've got it."

Castle and Beckett arrived at Kort's house and the detective knocked on the door. When it opened, a large Black man covered in tattoos stood in front of them. He reminded Castle of a huge football player, whom he would never want to be tackled by, either that or an old voodoo priest.

As the man only stared at them, Beckett spoke up to introduce her and Castle saying, "Mr. Kort, I'm Detective Beckett with the NYPD and this is Richard Castle, a police consultant."

"And what exactly do you want, Detective Beckett and police consultant, Richard Castle?" the man asked. "Has my son stepped out of line after all this time? If so, I will be sure to discipline him."

"We're not sure if your son has done anything right now," Beckett replied as she looked at the man in surprise. "We're here because we'd like to ask you few questions if that would be all right."

"What about?" he asked shortly as he guided them into his home.

Kate and Rick sat down on a couch and then she answered, "We're investigating the death of two women, Vivian Kirkpatrick and her sister, Jane. Did you know them at all?"

Kort remained standing as he responded, "I recognize the name, but I don't believe I know either one of them. Should I?"

"We're not sure, but your name was brought up during our investigation," Kate continued as she could tell he was hiding something. "We were hoping that you would be able to give us something that might help us solve their murders. Why do you think your name would come up if you didn't know something?"

"I'm not sure, detective, but if something comes to mind, I would be happy to give you a call," the man replied smugly. "If you leave me your number I'd…"

Castle pulled out one of Beckett's cards from her jacket pocket and handed it over to their newest suspect as he interrupted, "Just call this number if anything comes up. We'll be in touch, Mr. Kort."

Kort answered, "I'm sure we will."

Castle moved toward the door in a hurry, followed by Kate, and finally Kort, who came to the door to let them out. As the detective and writer got back into their car, they looked over toward the man and saw that he was only glaring at them, which only creeped Castle out even more than he already was.

"What was that, Castle?" Beckett asked as they finally drove away. "I can't believe you're scared of that guy."

"I wasn't scared," Rick retorted. "I just… well I… All right, maybe a little, but you have to admit that he was huge and a bit intimidating. He was as huge a house and he looked like a voodoo priest. What if he is a voodoo priest and he killed our victims in some kind of voodoo ritual?"

Kate shook her head as she smirked and then responded, "Please, Castle. There were no ritualistic symbols carved into their bodies and nothing surrounding them when we found them that indicated that. Kort was only trying to act cool while he was hiding whatever he refused to tell us. If you had given me some more time, I might have gotten more information from him."

Rick replied, "I highly doubt it. I think…"

Castle was interrupted as Beckett's phone suddenly went off. While continuing to drive back toward the station, she took a quick peek at the caller ID to see who it was calling her and when she saw that it was Esposito, she answered, hoping that he was about to give them some good news. Unfortunately, what he was about to say next was the beginning of a tragedy that none of them saw coming.

After Esposito spoke on the other end of the line, Beckett quickly called out fearfully, "You and Ryan be careful. If he runs, keep an eye on him, but don't try to take him down until we get there. We're on our way to back you up."

"What's going on?" Castle asked once Beckett hung up and then sped up as she turned on the police lights and siren.

"They found Kort's son in an old apartment complex downtown, but they haven't approached him yet," she replied. "The kid is high on meth. Once we try to take him down, he's going to go crazy, making him very dangerous."

Back in the present…

"Nice shot!" Javier began. "Ryan?"

Ryan didn't answer as he continued to stare at nothing, when both Beckett and Castle suddenly burst in the room, the detective with her gun raised up as she and the writer had heard the shot. She lowered it when she found that Ryan and Esposito were the only ones in the room and then noticed the look on Ryan's face as she moved forward and turned to look at him.

"What on earth just happened?" Kate asked as she looked between Ryan and Esposito. "Kevin, are you all right?"

"Kevin had no choice, but to take a shot," Esposito answered when Ryan remained silent. "The kid overpowered me and I couldn't break free. Ryan took the only shot he could, which wouldn't have been bad if it wasn't for this hole in the floor behind me. The force caused him to fall backward. Kevin saved my life."

Kevin continued to stare down at the hole while he spoke up finally, "He was out of his mind on the meth. He didn't deserve to die, at least not like that."

Javier put his hand on his partner's shoulder and responded, "Whether he was high or not, he still had a gun to my head and he would have killed me if it weren't for you. This isn't your fault, Bro."

Ryan replied, "Maybe not, but I just made it impossible for us to talk to him about our victims. He wasn't the one that killed Vivian and I don't think he killed her sister either."

"What makes you think that?" Castle asked.

"Because one of the last things he said was that he, as in someone else, just became angry," Ryan continued. "He said he would refuse to rat him out. The kid was angry, but I believe it was only because of the drugs. More than anything, he was scared."

Kate nodded and answered, "All right, so Kort's son was still in trouble with drugs and maybe he had somehow gotten involved with one of our victims, but Kort himself didn't like it. What if Donovan killed them in order to protect his son?"

Castle responded, "I have no problem believing that, but let me tell you, if it turns out that you're right, I am not going to be going with you to arrest him. I don't want to risk getting cursed or becoming his next ritualistic killing."

"Ritualistic killing?" Javier asked skeptically.

"Castle thinks he's a devil worshiper or some kind of voodoo priest," Beckett replied. "I'll call Lanie and let her know we've got another body for her and Kevin, don't worry about there being any consequences coming against you for the shooting. You did the right thing and if the captain wants to throw you under the bus to try to save face against the people that will no doubt come out of the wood work in an uproar…"

"Then, she's going to have to put up one hell of a fight," Javier interrupted. "Hell will have to freeze over before we let that happen."

Kevin looked back toward the hole in the floor, then back up between his friends, and answered, "I'm not so sure they'd be wrong to object."

They all watched him leave the room sadly, then Javier spoke up saying, "I'll be damned if Kevin takes a fall for this."

Beckett responded, "He won't Javi. He won't."


	7. Chapter 7

Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold

Chapter Seven

After he left the apartment, before Lanie and the rest of the crime scene techs and police showed up, Kevin took off and headed back to the station, hoping to avoid having to do anymore explaining to anyone, hoping to avoid any press that may show up. Esposito, Beckett, and Castle remained behind in order to take care of what needed to be.

Lanie arrived first and headed into the apartment below where the incident had taken place in order to begin her process of looking over the third body within the last four days and when she saw the bullet wound in his left shoulder, the coroner looked up at Kate and asked, "I take it that one of you did this?"

Beckett nodded and answered, "Ryan did to save Esposito's life. We believe this kid was high on meth because he was out of his mind and he had managed to overpower Javi, which you know is hard for anyone, impossible for a seventeen year old kid. He took the only shot he could and unfortunately, its force caused him to fall back through that hole above us."

"Crystal meth would definitely explain his incredible strength needed to do all that and the jitters you all saw," Lanie responded. "Of course I'll have to get his body back and examine him to know for sure, but from the angles of his body and the entrance of the bullet, everything matches up to your story."

"Of course it does," Castle replied. "Are you suggesting that Esposito was lying in order to cover up something that happened before we arrived to protect Ryan? That Ryan did something wrong?"

Lanie looked up at the writer and shook her head as she answered, "Of course not. I'm only stating what I'm seeing. Ryan is a good cop and so is Esposito. If this is what they say happened, it's what happened. Now all I have to do is prove their story."

Castle spoke up saying, "Sorry, it's just that this case has turned uglier than our cases usually do and I have a feeling it's going to get much worse."

"Once you're finished with the autopsy, do you think that you will be able to prove, with all certainty, that there was nothing more Kevin could have done differently and that his actions were right?" Kate asked worryingly.

"I'm afraid I won't be able to answer that until I get the results back, but don't worry too much," Lanie responded. "I'm sure everything's going to be fine. You're afraid that the press and anyone tied to this kid are going to raise hell over this, aren't you?"

Castle replied, "Yeah."

Lanie looked back down at the body and then she said, "I promise you I'll do everything I can."

"Thank you, Lanie," Kate answered. "Let me know as soon as you find out anything."

It wasn't long before a crowd had gathered outside of the complex, everyone wanting to know what was going on. The police worked on crowd control and keeping the press back, who had also arrived shortly after the men and women in blue. Unfortunately, it also wasn't long before an expected arrival showed up causing quite a stir among the onlookers.

"Where is the man that killed my son?" Donovan Kort shouted out angrily, searching those in uniforms for the detective that had showed up earlier at his home. "I want to know who did it so I can confront him."

Beckett, Esposito, and Castle heard the commotion from the room they were still standing in and when they discovered what, or who, was causing it, the three of them hurried from the room to stop him from causing a scene, before the father could slander the NYPD, mainly the man that had killed his son, to the press.

As soon as Kort saw Beckett and Castle, he stomped forward past the policemen trying to hold him back and shouted again, "I want to know which one of you killed my son! Was it that one standing beside you, Mr. Consultant?"

Castle looked to his left seeing that Esposito was standing there and then Beckett responded, "Mr. Kort, we will explain all we can, but we need you calm down and please, come with us."

"I'll calm down when you tell me which one of you murdered my son," Donovan replied as he followed after the detectives and Castle when they led him away from earshot of the observers, most importantly the press. "I have the right to know. I was under the impression that I was the one under your suspicion, not my son. I would have disciplined him if he was somehow involved, but to find out that he was murdered because of one of your detectives' incompetence…"

"Your son ran from us and was high on what we believe to be crystal meth, making him extremely dangerous," Javier spoke up angrily at the man's anger toward his partner. "The detective that shot your son, did so only trying to protect his partner, who would have been killed if it weren't for his actions. The shot was to his shoulder, but unfortunately your son was standing in front of a large hole in the floor caused years ago by a fire in this complex. The force caused him to fall backward."

Kate continued, "What happened to your son was tragic, but sadly there was nothing that could have been done any differently. I am very sorry for your loss."

Kort glared at her as he asked again, "I suppose you and the rest of your colleagues will refuse to tell me the name of the man, who so bravely protected his partner against my boy?"

"That's right, Mr. Kort, we refuse and if we find out that any threats are made against him, threats of any kind, you will be the first we'll come to for questioning," Esposito answered firmly. "I promise you, you will regret it."

"We shall see, won't we, detective," the man responded smugly.

Kort turned and walked away, moving swiftly through the crowd as he ignored the press that tried to get him to answer several questions about his uproar toward the detectives of the NYPD. Esposito moved to walk after him, but Beckett grabbed onto his shoulder and she and Castle moved to stand in front of him in order to stop him from making a mistake he would later forget.

Kate spoke softly saying, "Javi, he's only upset about the death of his son. We'll make sure Kevin's all right and do all we can to keep his name from getting out."

Esposito angrily replied, "You heard him. He pretty much made a threat against Ryan."

"You're right, we heard him, but threatening him in return isn't going to help the situation any and you know that," Beckett said. "If he tries to make good on his threat, we'll take him down hard."

"Can we keep eyes on him?" Castle asked. "You know, just to see what he's up to?"

Beckett turned back to look over at the crowd as she answered smugly, "We can't officially without probable cause, but if you were to take a walk around the park across the street, there'd be no harm if you were to look over at his house from time to time."

Castle smiled and responded, "All right. I told Alexis the other day I needed to do more walking in order to lose a few of the pounds I've put on since Thanksgiving. Christmas may be coming up, but there's no harm in starting to exercise too early."

"Good," Esposito replied. "I'm going to go make sure Kevin's all right. I think he headed back to the station. See you there?"

"We'll be right behind you," Beckett answered. "Besides, the captain's going to want to hear the whole story and we all need to be there when she approaches us. Hopefully, she'll be more like Captain Montgomery. Everything's going to work out fine, you'll see."

Esposito responded, "I hope you're right."

Castle replied, "I know what you mean."


	8. Chapter 8

Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold

Chapter Eight

When Esposito arrived back at the station, just before Beckett and Castle, he parked and then headed inside, until he noticed his partner still sitting silently in his car, staring blankly ahead of him. Javier walked around to the passenger's side of the car and sat down without a word, then turned to look at Ryan.

The older man was the first to speak up in hope of lightening the mood a little, saying, "You know you could catch a cold if you continue to sit out here much longer; it's freezing."

Ryan continued to stare ahead as he quietly responded, "I've been colder. This is nothing."

"You mean the time when you were tortured and dunked over and over in the tub of icy water by Lockwood?" Esposito asked.

"Among other times," Ryan answered. "I didn't want to go in to face Captain Gates alone. It's my fault, but I don't know how to explain…"

The younger man's partner interrupted, "You don't have to, at least not alone, and none of this is your fault, Kevin. Am I going to have to have this tattooed on your forehead so that you'll remember it?"

Ryan replied, "I'm not ashamed that I saved your life, Javi, but there had to have been something else I could have done. What I did is going to give our precinct unwanted attention and will place us under scrutiny. Besides, he was just a kid and he wasn't even to blame for what happened to those women."

"We don't know that," Esposito responded firmly. "He may have claimed that he was innocent just before he died, but that doesn't mean he was telling us the truth. He was out of his mind and probably didn't even know what he was saying."

"Do you really believe that?" Ryan asked skeptically as he finally looked over at him to read his expression. "I can see that you don't. You don't have to coddle me."

Javier answered, "I'm not trying to coddle you. I am just trying to reassure you that you did all you could and that you're not alone in this."

Ryan softly replied, "Thank you, Javi. The others should be back soon. I think it's about time we go inside, you know, before we catch a cold."

Beckett and Castle walked into the precinct a few minutes after Ryan and Esposito had and found that the two of them had just begun to debrief with their captain. It wasn't unusual for Captain Gates to look stern during an investigation, which made it almost impossible to tell whether or not she was upset about some of the detectives' actions during them, but tonight, the lead detective and the writer could tell she was more stern than usual.

"Are you are certain that there was nothing more that could have been done?" she asked as they walked in.

"Ryan did everything right, Captain," Esposito responded firmly. "The kid had me dead to rights. His finger was on the trigger and he was about to fire. If it weren't for my partner, I'd be dead and possibly Ryan would be too."

The captain nodded and then quickly asked, "And the kid was definitely high on meth?"

Ryan was about to say something when Beckett quickly answered, "We won't know that for sure until Lanie gets the tests back she's working on, but he was definitely strung out on something. Sir, Castle and I were not there to see all of this go down, but if Ryan and Esposito say that this is what happened, this is what happened, of that I am absolutely positive."

"I believe you, Detective Beckett; Esposito," Gates replied. "Oh, and just so you know, I received a few calls before you arrived back here from the press, wanting to know when they can interview us about tonight's incident, as well as wanting me to divulge the name of the detective responsible for the death of the father's son, who arrived outside of the apartment complex tonight. I was going to…"

"You can't give them Ryan's name," Castle said as he cut her off a bit more forcefully than he meant to. "I mean, with all due respect, Ma'am, I mean, Sir, it'd be a big mistake."

The captain glared at the writer as she responded, "Do you think that this is my first rodeo in dealing with the press and news reporters, Mr. Castle?"

Castle answered, "No, I guess not. Sorry about that."

"I told them I would give them as much information as I could, but that we refuse to divulge Detective Ryan's name in order to keep him from being bombarded by them and terrorized by those that are outraged by his actions," the woman replied. "I promise you, Kevin, that I will do all I can to keep you from being blamed for any of this. I'll be damned if one of my detectives gets hassled by anyone for doing their job."

"Thank you, Captain," Kevin responded as she nodded and then walked off to deal with things on her end.

Beckett then turned to face Ryan and spoke up saying, "You should go home, Kev. Talk with Jenny and then get some rest. You look like you could use it. We'll take care of things from here."

Ryan shook his head and then answered, "I can't… I… There's too much to do. I can't just take off."

"We got this, Bro," Esposito replied firmly. "Go home and let us deal with it. I think Jenny will appreciate you coming home early for once. Don't blow this chance to get yourself out of the doghouse."

"Ha, yeah!" the younger man responded as a small smirk appeared across his face. "Thanks. I'll see you in the morning. Call me… you know, if you get a lead at all."

Kate answered, "We will. Don't worry about things, Kevin. You did nothing wrong tonight and in time, things will blow over. You'll see."

He nodded and took off, leaving his friends behind to keep working. Ryan wanted to stay with them to keep working, but a part of him couldn't help but feel relieved that he was able to go home early, especially after the strain he and Jenny were going through as of late. His wife would certainly appreciate him doing so, especially once she found out what had happened tonight. No doubt she'd be worried about him.

As the youngest detective pulled out of his parking space behind the police station and drove off, he didn't notice he was being followed, as the traffic in the city made it difficult for any cop to notice a tail, unless they were looking for one, not that Kevin would notice anyway as his mind was not really focused on anything other than tonight's events.


	9. Chapter 9

Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold

Chapter Nine

After Detective Ryan left the precinct, detectives Beckett and Esposito, as well as Castle took a seat at their desks to keep working, knowing that they would be doing so through the night. Kate asked Lanie to rush the results from the tests she was running on their suspect in hope that they'd be able to clear Ryan of any wrongdoing as soon as possible. Shortly after nine o'clock that night, Kort once again began to cause trouble as he angrily walked into the precinct to confront the detectives, right away demanding to know who the detective was that shot and killed his son.

"I understand that you refused to give out the coward's name in front of the reporters, but I am only one man, seeking justice for my boy," Donovan stated haughtily. "I have every right to look that murderer in his eyes as I confront him."

"As we've said before, Kort, we will not be giving out the detective's name under any circumstances, especially not to someone threatening, like you," Esposito replied as he moved to stand in front of the newcomer.

Kate stepped in between them as she responded, "Javier… Okay, Mr. Kort, if you wish to have a seat and talk, then we can talk. Otherwise…"

Donovan continued glaring at Esposito as he interrupted, "Fine, let's talk. Detective, Javier was it?"

"That's Esposito," Javier answered in frustration.

"Esposito, you seem pretty protective of the detective in question here," Kort replied smugly. "He wouldn't happen to be your partner, would he?"

Ryan's partner moved in once again in anger as Castle responded, "Listen, we've already explained for the last time…"

Beckett cut him off as she said, "Please, Mr. Kort. Come with me to our conference room and I promise to tell you everything I can."

"Very well," the man answered. "Lead the way, Detective Beckett."

"First of all, I want to apologize again for your loss," Kate spoke up again after she, Castle, and Donovan took a seat in one of the precinct's conference rooms. "I promise you, we are doing everything we can to find out the truth as to what happened tonight, as well as what started all of this."

Kort replied, "I know what happened tonight, detective. Your boy, whoever he is, killed my son and now you two and your friend out there are trying to protect him. I do not wish to harm him. I just want to hear from him why he did what he did and to hear him apologize to me personally. Don't I deserve that?"

Castle responded, "I wish there was something we could do for you, to help ease the pain of the loss of your son, but we also have a duty to the detective you believe is to blame for all of this. You may not wish him harm, but there are others out there, who might and we cannot take that risk."

"Your son was high on what we believe was crystal meth, causing him to act out of his mind," Beckett continued calmly. "He managed to overpower another detective and the one that shot your son did all he could to save them both. He shot your son in the left shoulder, but unfortunately, he fell back through a hole in the floor behind him. He had no choice, but if your son was not involved in the deaths of our two victims, then I promise you, we will bring the real people responsible to justice. Those are the real people that killed your son."

"Then, I hope you get them, Detective Beckett," Donovan answered as he received and read a text on his cell phone, then quickly stood up and walked toward the door, causing Beckett and Castle to become suspicious of his sudden actions.

Castle stood up behind the man as he asked, "Is there something wrong, Mr. Kort?"

As he exited the room and headed toward the elevator, Kort replied, "No, Mr. Castle. I am just anxious to begin the funeral preparations and realized that I still need to make a few calls. Surely, you understand."

"Of course," Kate responded. "Good night and I promise to let you know when we come up with a new lead. Call us if you need anything."

"I will, thank you," Donovan answered and then finally left as Kate, Rick, and Javier, who had joined them again, watched him get into the elevator.

Esposito noticed the look on his friends' faces as he turned to them and asked, "What was that all about? Is everything okay?"

Castle replied, "That was strange. Things seemed to be going fine, well kind of, until he suddenly received a text and then took off like a jack rabbit. Something's up."

"Did he finally stop trying to figure out who shot his son?" Javier asked again, not caring about anything, but making sure that his partner was going to be all right.

"It appeared that way at first, but it seemed that as soon as he got that text… I think he's up to something," Castle responded.

Beckett added, "I think you're right."

Rick asked in surprise, "You do?"

"Yes, Castle, I do," she answered. "Unfortunately, there's nothing we can do about that now. Let's go talk with Lanie. Hopefully, she'll have something for us."

"It just so happens that I do," Lanie replied as she walked into the main room. "I got the kid's tox report back. You guys were definitely right about the meth being what caused him to act all jumpy and out of his mind, which means…"

Kate interrupted, "Which means that there was nothing more Kevin could have done."

Lanie nodded and responded, "It's not enough to clear him one hundred percent, but it's a start. I'll continue working on the autopsy and hopefully we'll be able to prove all of his and Javi's story."

"I just hope that it happens before whatever's coming, comes," Kate said glumly.

"What do you mean?" Rick asked in confusion.

The lead detective answered, "It's the way I felt as soon as Kort got up and left. Something bad is going to happen, but I have no idea what. Javi, I suggest you go over and check on Ryan. Make sure that he's all right."

Esposito asked fearfully, "You think Kort just figured out Ryan was the one who shot his son?"

Kate nodded and that was all Esposito needed before he took off, then Kate turned back to Castle, who asked, "What about us? Aren't we going after him?"

"Yeah, I think we better," she replied. "Let's go."


	10. Chapter 10

Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold

Chapter Ten

When Ryan got home, he found that Jenny wasn't there, which he realized he was grateful for so that he wouldn't have to explain to her what happened earlier, at least not right away. He just wanted to relax and grab a beer, so after he had placed his gun and badge in the drawer Jenny had set aside for his things inside the kitchen, he changed into more comfortable clothes, pulled a beer from the fridge, then took a seat on the couch, and turned on their TV.

Kevin figured Jenny must be out, either going shopping or maybe even out with some of her friends, so he chose not to call her, not wanting to worry her for nothing. After sitting down for a few minutes, he decided it would be nice if he made her dinner for a change for when she came home, so he walked into the kitchen and began to cook, hoping that by doing so he would be able to keep his mind off of today's events, as watching television wasn't helping him much.

It wasn't long into his preparations that he heard a noise coming from outside. At first he thought it was his wife coming home, but then the lights throughout his house suddenly went out, alerting him that something was wrong. He quickly made a grab for his gun and then slowly crept to the window in order to check out the neighbors' houses, hoping that his electricity going out wasn't what he was expecting, but when he found that everyone else's lights were still on, he knew he was in trouble.

As he scouted his house, Ryan was suddenly attacked from behind as someone jumped him, expecting to strike the back of head using the butt of his gun. Luckily, Ryan managed to surprise his attacker as the two began to fight, causing his and Jenny's home to become trashed. During the struggle, Kevin tried to focus on the intruder's face, but the darkness and the fact that he or she was wearing gloves and a mask over his head made it impossible.

Despite the attacker's efforts, Kevin eventually managed to overpower him and pick up his gun, which had been knocked from his hands during their fight, then aimed it straight at his assailant's head and used his free hand to pull the mask off from over his head, using the street lights from outside to see. Unfortunately, before Ryan could finish, he was once again attacked from behind as his second assailant grabbed him by the back of his neck and then turned him around while he shoved him hard up against one of the walls with surprising strength.

Before Ryan could do anything to defend himself against the man, a knife was suddenly thrust deep into his abdomen and then twisted just before it was swiftly pulled back out. Ryan gasped in pain as the attack was made and when the knife came out, the detective collapsed to the floor as he struggled through the pain. His blood began to pool out around him, despite his efforts to hold his hands over the wound, but Kevin ignored the loss as he rolled over onto his back in order to look up at his assailants above him.

The second man wasn't wearing a mask or gloves, but the detective didn't recognize him. All he could tell was that he was White and not any older than himself. Ryan turned his head to look over at the other attacker and saw that he was Black and a few years younger than the man who had stabbed him.

After he had gotten over the shock of what had just happened, the younger one finally spoke up as he asked, "What on earth did you just do? This wasn't what was supposed to go down!"

The other one answered, "It's nothing less than he deserves. It's what you wanted, so why does it matter how it's done?"

"I didn't want... I mean… what if we leave something behind that the other cops can track back to us, Mickey?" the first attacker asked again.

"That won't happen as long as we do what we came here to do in the first place," the one called Mickey responded as he pulled out a lighter from his pocket and then handed it over to the younger man. "Burn it down."

As the kid took the lighter and then walked back into the living room across from the entryway in the opposite side of the house and stood over the fallen Christmas tree, Ryan watched him light the tree on fire, while he struggled to remain conscious. The leader of the two knelt beside him and stared down at the struggling detective with a smug look on his face. Ryan kept his eyes focused on the now burning tree, which was quickly beginning to catch the rest of the living room on fire as well, and spreading.

Mickey quietly spoke to Ryan saying, "You made a mistake tonight, detective; a big one. You should pray that you die before that fire spreads over to here. I know how it feels to get burned and can only imagine how it feels to burn alive. Good bye."

The other attacker moved out of the living room and waited in the entryway for his partner and shouted, "Come on, man! We've got to get out of here, now!"

"I'm coming," Mickey replied as he stood and then together, the two of them ran out the door, leaving Kevin to die.

A few minutes later, Jenny finally drove down the street to find hers and her husband's home was on fire and after stopping her car in the middle of the street, she got out and began to run toward the house in shock, but then stopped running as the fire suddenly blew out the windows within the living room.

The fire continued to spread into the dining area as another car pulled up beside hers and saw that it was Javier, who came running over toward her as he quickly shouted out, "Where's Kevin? Have you seen him?"

"What do you mean?" she asked fearfully. "He's supposed to be with you. Did he… Are you saying he's still inside?"

"Ryan!" Esposito called out as he swiftly ran toward the house and then kicked in the door.

Jenny collapsed down into the snow below her in shock as tears poured down her cheeks, while she watched her husband's partner run into their house to try to find him and save him, if he was actually inside, before the fire could finish destroying everything that she and Kevin had together. It was then that both Detective Beckett and Castle pulled up and quickly ran over to her. Kate wrapped her arms around the devastated woman, while they all stared toward the house, waiting for news on the youngest detective, Beckett and Castle knowing that Esposito had gone in to find his partner.

Meanwhile…

As soon as Javier broke into the house, he quickly shouted out his partner's name a couple more times until he finally found him laying on his side and unconscious on the floor of the dining room, the fire almost on top of him. Esposito cut through the smaller flames that blocked his path of getting to Ryan and as he finally reached him, he quickly felt for a pulse as he noticed blood pooling beneath him from what he saw was a deep wound in his stomach. Javier breathed out a small sigh of relief when he found that his partner was still alive, but he knew that he wouldn't be for long, for neither one of them, if he didn't get him out of there.

Esposito quickly, but as gently as he could, lifted the younger man into his arms in a fireman's carry and then swiftly moved back toward the doorway, but when he saw that his path was blocked by the fire, the flames being much taller now, he turned toward the large windows within the room they were in and finally crashed through them in order to get out.

Once doing so, Jenny screamed out her husband's name and ran over to them, followed closely by Kate and Rick. The first thing Castle saw the blood covering Ryan's and now Esposito's clothes. Beckett and Jenny saw it too when Javier gently lay his partner down on the ground and his wife pulled him into her arms as tears continued pouring down her face, as tears slowly began to fall from Kate's eyes as well.

Esposito pulled aside the cut through cloth of Ryan's shirt above his wound in order to get a better look at it and then quickly placed his hands over it in order to apply pressure until the paramedics arrived. Off in the distance, they could all hear the sirens wailing from both the ambulance as well as fire trucks. Castle had called 911 once he had seen the fire. Now, he couldn't help but stare down at his friend in shock, thinking that he never expected something like this to happen, even after working with the NYPD for over four years now.

Before the ambulance pulled up, Kate knelt down beside Jenny and Esposito and was the first to notice, as she was holding onto his hand, that despite Javier's effort to help his partner, she could no longer feel his pulse and then Kevin's heart suddenly stopped. She swiftly pushed in between them and began to do CPR until the paramedics finally moved in to help them. Javier pulled Jenny up and held her in his arms in comfort, while he angrily watched his partner fight to stay alive, vowing silently that he was going to do whatever it took to make the people responsible for hurting him pay.


	11. Chapter 11

Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold

Chapter Eleven

One hour later, across town at a motel…

Two men stiffly got out of a car after they parked out front and within a minute were standing outside the door, waiting for the renter of the room to open up and let them in. When the man before them finally did, the two men walked inside and took a seat, one on the single bed and the other in one of the chairs.

The renter spoke up gruffly as he asked, "What have you two done?"

Seeing the anger on the man's face, the youngest of the three answered fearfully, "We did what we thought you would have wanted us to do; for Robbie. That cop killed your son, my brother! You're our father. I was trying to make you…"

"I told you once, boy, do not call me that," Kort replied as he sat down in the other chair. "You may be my son by blood, but not by choice. If Robbie never went out to try to find you, none of this would be happening and I wouldn't be here. I never wanted that cop killed. He deserved to suffer, but if all I got was admittance, an apology, then I would have had to live with that."

"I was there tonight," his son responded. "I saw everything. I watched as Robbie struggled with those cops, just before the one shot him and caused him to fall through that hole. I know that it is my fault that Robbie had to come and help me clean up my mess after I, we, killed those two girls, I know that it's my fault that he's dead, but…"

The older man that walked in with Kort's son finally spoke up as he interrupted, "Someone needed to pay. Why not kill the killer? That detective could have made a different call, but instead he chose to shoot him down like a dog. I am here to look out for the only other family you have left. Surely that means something more to you than whatever it is you claim you hate him for. You are here after all."

Donovan glared at the man, who had come into the room with his son, then turned back to face his boy and answered, "The cops do not know about you because I went through a lot of effort to keep you hidden from everyone, including the government. Now, as long as you didn't screw up and leave something of yours behind at that detective's home, then you will remain hidden and be able to escape. They don't have anything on me."

"We burnt him and his house down to the ground," the friend replied smugly. "There is no chance that they'll be able to find anything left, but a burned up corpse."

"You appear to be pretty sure of yourself," Kort responded as he opened his jacket and pulled out his wallet. "But I've seen how protective they are of their man. If there is something of yours that was left back there, they will find it. They will find you and I will not allow you to take me and what is left of my family down, Mick O'Connell. Here is a couple thousand. Get Brett out of this state and do not come back, or I will give the cops what they want to know. Am I making myself clear?"

Brett Kort protested as he cried out, "I won't just run away like a coward! I came to find you and Robbie so that I can finally belong. I am tired of being alone."

Donovan turned away and headed to the door as he spoke up again saying, "You said so yourself, all of this is your fault. Now you have to accept the consequences of your actions. Now get out of here and do not ever come back to see me again."

"Pleasure doing business with you, Donovan," Mick said as Brett's father finally left.

"Are you really willing to just leave town for good?" Brett asked Mick as the older assailant began to count the money he was given by Kort.

Mick answered, "Your so called father was right about us not being able to get caught, but I do not plan to stick around in case the detectives somehow manage to get smart. I suggest you come with me."

Brett looked over at his friend and then replied, "Fine. Where are we going?"

"Take your pick," the older man responded. "He gave us enough money to go wherever we want to go. Personally, I'd like to go someplace a bit warmer. What do you think about Miami?"

Meanwhile, at Castle's apartment…

Martha was sitting down at the dining room table eating dinner with a houseguest, a man she had met at one of her acting seminars and had started dating a few weeks ago. It wasn't long into their date when the vibrant woman received a call from her son, a call that changed her good mood into a bad one.

"Richard, if you're calling to let me know that you're going to be coming home tonight because you and Beckett got into a fight, you might want to reconsider, as I might be getting lucky tonight, if you know what I mean," she spoke up as soon as she answered the phone.

"_I wish that was all I was calling for, Mother, but ewe, no,_" Rick answered somberly. "_I just wanted to…_"

She turned away from her date as she replied fearfully, "Richard, I can hear the sadness in your voice. Is everything all right? Is it Kate?"

Castle responded, "_No, Kate's fine. It's Ryan actually. He was attacked in his home tonight and then it was burned down. I was hoping that you would be able to take in Jenny for tonight and tomorrow, or at least until she wants to leave to be left on her own. We need someplace for her to go to be safe until we can catch the men who did this._"

"Of course, of course," Martha answered as she left the table and began to put on her coat and grab her purse, then quickly asked her date to leave before heading out the door herself. "How is Detective Ryan? Are you all right?"

"_I'm fine; the rest of us are fine,_" Rick replied. "_Kevin's not so lucky, but he's alive, for now. We're at the hospital now. I have no idea when…_"

She interrupted, "I am on my way. Just hang in there, Sweetheart. Everything's going to be all right."

Castle responded, "_I hope you're right, Mother, and thank you._"


	12. Chapter 12

Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold

Chapter Twelve

After hours inside one of the hospital's operating rooms, doctors worked vigorously over Detective Ryan trying to repair the knife wound within his abdomen, while the other detectives, Ryan's wife, Lanie, Castle, and Martha all waited fearfully out in the waiting room for any news on his condition.

Jenny hardly spoke a word as she went from sitting down, to pacing up and down the hallways and then went back to sitting down once again. Javier and Kate both tried to talk with her, in hope of comforting her. However, she pushed them away, not wanting to talk with them or anyone else, but the doctors. Tears stained her face, as did her make-up, but it didn't matter to her, as all she could think about while she fidgeted in her seat was nothing but fear for her husband.

Finally, she stood back up from her chair, walked over to stand in front of both Beckett and Esposito, and asked angrily, "What happened tonight? Were we just random victims of a robbery that went terribly wrong, or is there something else going on here and why was Kevin even home so early? He's never early, which I understand, but I just can't… I don't…"

Kate stood up as she gently placed his hands on Jenny's shoulders and interrupted, "Jenny, just try to stay calm. Kevin's going to be all right. He's…"

"He's what, strong?" Jenny asked sadly. "I know he is. I just want to know what's going on. I can see from all of your faces that something bad has happened, other than my husband being stabbed and then nearly burned alive. Please, just tell me."

"Earlier tonight, Kevin, Javi, Castle, and I went to an apartment complex across town in order to bring in a suspect in our latest case," Kate began slowly. "He was just a seventeen year old kid, who was high on what we believed then and now know was crystal meth, which causes a person to become strung out and much stronger. Kevin and Esposito found him first and in order to save Javi's life, Kevin was forced to shoot him. The shot hit the kid in the shoulder, but the force caused him to fall backward through a hole in the floor, killing him almost instantly. The shot was clean, but Kevin has been beating himself about it ever since it happened, which is why we sent him home early, so that he could have a chance to clear his head."

Castle continued, "We have refused to speak with the media and the captain assured us that she would do everything she can to keep Kevin's name from getting out in hope of protecting him from retaliation, but…"

Javier cut the writer off as he replied, "If the captain was able to protect him, then how did whoever did this know that it was Kevin that shot the kid and so soon?"

"I don't know, but Jenny, we promise you that we will find those responsible for hurting him and make them pay," Kate answered. "Once we find out from the doctors that he's going to be all right, then we'll start our search."

"It looks like we're about to find out," Lanie spoke up as everyone else turned to see a doctor walking toward them from the operating room. "How's he doing, doctor?"

The doctor responded glumly, "He's still alive, but I'm afraid only just. We had to put him on a ventilator because right now, he's not breathing on his own. The knife wound is severe, as the weapon shoved in deep and looking at the tear, it looks like the knife was twisted and then roughly pulled back out. He's lost a lot of blood and we've had to give him a transfusion in hope of replenishing it, but one isn't enough. As soon as we know his body will accept the first one, we'll have to give him another. Finally, because of the fire, Detective Ryan has suffered from smoke ventilation, as well as second degree burns on his hands, his left arm, and shoulder. We were able to…"

As tears had begun to fall down her face once again, Jenny finally spoke up as she asked, "Please, just tell me he's going to be all right?"

"It's too soon to tell you one way or the other," the doctor replied. "I'm very sorry, but I promise that we'll do everything we can to keep him alive."

"Thank you, doctor," Kate answered, then turned to Jenny, and said, "We'll take care of everything, I promise, Jenny, but in the meantime, you're welcome to stay with Martha, while Castle stays with me. You'll be safe there, while we work to find them."

"You're welcome to stay for as long as you need," Martha responded.

"I appreciate that, Mrs. Rodgers, but actually, I think I'm going to stay with my sister down in Connecticut," Jenny replied sadly. "I know I should want to stay close to be with my husband as much as possible, but I… I need some time to think. You said it yourself that there's a possible danger as long as the monsters that did this are still out there and I know that you'll take good care of him. My sister has been begging me to come down to visit her and Christmas is in less than a week. I can't… I… Doctor, can I see him now?"

The doctor nodded and answered, "This way, just follow me."

Everyone watched Ryan's wife follow after the doctor and then Kate spoke up again saying, "We can't blame her for feeling like she needs to get away for awhile. Besides, she doesn't even have a home anymore. She needs to be with family to help her get through this and we'll help Kevin."

"You're exactly right, my dear," Martha responded.

Javier rubbed his hand over his face and head, the frustration showing heavy across his face, then turned and stormed out of the hospital. Everyone could see that tonight's earlier events and then having to rush into a burning house to save his partner, a man whom they all knew he considered a brother, was really tearing him down and if Ryan didn't survive, then the NYPD were going lose more than just one good cop.

"I'll talk with him," Castle started to jog after him as he called out to the others.

Lanie looked over at Beckett and asked, "So, where exactly are you going to start now?"

Beckett answered, "I'll have the crime scene techs put a rush on their results from Kevin's and Jenny's home. Hopefully his assailants left something behind for us to find. Nothing else is more important right now than helping him and getting these scumbags and we will get them. In the meantime, we'll start with Donovan Kort, to see where he rushed off to in such a hurry."


	13. Chapter 13

Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold

Chapter Thirteen

Early the next morning, within the apartment where tonight's events had taken place, both Brett and Mick worked on gathering their things together before their sudden move to Miami in order to get out of town as soon as possible. Brett still wasn't sure he wanted to leave, but his father and Mick had convinced him it was what needed to be done and he realized that his father was never going to be his father.

Just as Brett was about to finish packing, Mick suddenly came into the room in a hurry, with a folded up newspaper and a bag of groceries in his hands as he spoke gruffly, "We've got a problem. We can't leave just yet."

Brett scoffed as he kept packing without looking up at his friend and asked, "What's going on now? I thought you were anxious to leave town?"

"The detective is still alive," Mick answered. "The newspapers say that the guy was rescued at last minute by his partner. He's in bad shape and has yet to wake up, but if he does…"

"If he does, then he'll be able to tell the others who we are!" Brett cried out as he stopped what he was doing. "What are we going to do?"

Mick responded, "He has no idea who we are and so it will be next to impossible for them to figure us out, but I'm not willing to take any chances. We need to find a way to finish him off like we should have done earlier."

Brett stared at his friend in confusion and then replied, "You mean… Do you mean that you want us to break into the hospital the detective was taken to so that we can kill him? Are you crazy? The police will be surrounding the place or at least his room. There's no way we'll be able to get inside. What exactly do you suggest we do?"

"We've got to figure something out," Mick answered. "We can't leave the country because we don't have enough to live on, or to even get there, and even if we can make it down to Florida, there is no way they won't stop searching for us once they put all the pieces together. We'll be on the most wanted list and won't be able to hide forever. We have to kill him as soon as possible, before he wakes up and has a chance to tell anyone, anything."

"How?" the younger man asked again.

Mick responded smugly, "You let me worry about that. I won't go down for your pathetic family issues. For now, just stay here and stay low. I'll let you know what your part in all of this will be soon enough."

Meanwhile…

Despite the earliness of the hour, Beckett and Castle drove from the hospital to Kort's house once again, while Detective Esposito stayed behind to keep watch over his partner and make sure that he was protected. The detective and the writer hardly spoke a word to each other as they were having a hard time with putting aside their worry and their anger over the things that have happened tonight.

However, as they pulled up in front of their suspect's house, Rick looked over at Kate and asked, "Are you sure you're up for this right now?"

"We need to talk with him, to find out where he disappeared to earlier tonight after we finished talking with him at the station," she replied somberly.

"Of course we do, but what I mean is, are you sure you can do this now, without getting too worked up?" Castle tried again. "Ryan's not doing well and it's possibly because of this guy, but you know that you can't get out of control like you have a tendency to do sometimes when our cases get tough like this."

Kate stared at the house in front of them as she answered, "Kevin isn't just a detective, but a good friend and is as close as a brother to Javi. The four of us and Lanie are a family. As much as I want to make Kort's life hell, and believe me it will take a lot of will power not to, I promise that I won't. Besides, we don't even know for sure if Kort's involved."

Castle responded resolutely, "Oh, he's involved. I'm just not sure how."

"And it looks like he's having trouble sleeping, seeing as his lights are on at this hour," Beckett added.

Within a few minutes, both Beckett and Castle were standing outside Kort's front door, waiting for the large man to answer. When he finally did, he didn't appear to be surprised that they were there, but he didn't let on that he was expecting them either. Like he had when he opened up for them the first time, he just glared at them until Beckett finally spoke up to break the awkward silence.

"Forgive the earliness of the hour, Mr. Kort, but we're here because we need to know where it was you rushed off to earlier at the police station," she said coldly.

The man replied, "As I'm sure you can understand, I've been upset over the loss of my son. Robbie made a mistake tonight, but he was a good kid."

Kate looked over at Rick, then back at Kort, and stated, "Right now, I'm not so sure. A good kid doesn't go around getting into drugs like crystal meth and nearly killing cops. You didn't answer my question. Where did you head off to in such a hurry?"

"What exactly is the problem here, detective, other than the fact that you're standing here before the sun is even up?" Donovan asked again.

"Once again, you didn't answer her question," Castle said as he crossed his arms impatiently. "Do you have something you're trying to hide from us, Donovan?"

Kort stared at the writer as he answered, "Robbie's best friend finally called me back after I tried to get a hold of him to tell him what happened. He didn't take the news well and he's like family, so I needed to go and make sure he didn't do anything crazy."

Castle responded, "You mean crazy, as in going off to try to kill the detective you claim is responsible for your son's death? That kind of crazy?"

"I promise you, the only thing I wanted from the detective that killed my son was admittance and an apology, just as I said before," Donovan replied sincerely. "If something happened to him, as I'm under the impression that something did, I'm sorry."

"What is the name of your son's friend?" Beckett asked calmly. "We'll need to talk with him in order to verify your alibi and then find out if he has one as well. Do you have a way to prove that you were with him, seeing as we can't just take your word you weren't anywhere near our friend's home?"

Kort answered, "I went to meet up with him at a diner about a mile from my home. It's where he works. You can ask him for yourself when you go to see him. He'll be at home asleep right now, just as I should be too. Although, I wouldn't go this early. I'm telling you right now, he won't be in the mood to cooperate with you at all if you do. He's not as friendly as I am."

Castle scoffed and then turned to leave the house as Beckett took down the friend's name, address, and cell phone number as Donovan gave it to her. Then, she finally nodded and turned to leave as well. Once the man closed the door behind them, they both walked slowly back to the car and drove off, back toward the hospital so that they could relieve Esposito from watching over Ryan. The former Army Special Forces sniper needed sleep as much as the rest of them did, but until the two detectives and writer were sure that the right security was in place and that Kevin was being looked after as the case continued on, sleep was something that none of them could afford.


	14. Chapter 14

Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold

Chapter Fourteen

Detective Esposito sat uncomfortably in the hideous, orange plastic chair from the hospital's waiting room, which he had placed beside his partner's beside so that he could stay with him while Beckett and Castle were out doing what needed to be done. Despite being weary, Javier managed to stay awake for the last few hours as he stared down at Kevin, who was deathly pale, still, and hooked up to a ventilator, which was the only thing that indicated that he was alive as it did the job of breathing for the youngest member of their little NYPD family.

Anger seemed to be the former sniper's outer appearance as a darkness was etched across his face, and rightly so, but inside, Javier was struggling to hold together as fear and sadness were the emotions that were threatening to overpower him; fear that there was a large chance his best friend would not survive this and sadness that all of this happened to him just days before Christmas, as well as over everything Kevin had lost the night before.

When he was finally permitted into his partner's room after Kevin's wife had left to prepare for her trip to visit her sister in Connecticut, the doctor explained to him that for now Ryan was stable, or as stable as a man in his condition could be, but the news didn't ease his mind in the least. Ryan's condition was critical, which meant that he could get worse very quickly, just as easily as he could get better and until that happened, his present demeanor would remain as it was.

As he continued to stare down at Ryan, Javier softly spoke up saying, "I need you to keep fighting, Kev. I don't want to have to break in a new partner any time soon. You realize, that if you stay this way for too long, that Captain Gates is going to want to try to assign me a new partner. You and I may have our differences, but I've already got a partner. I don't need another one."

Nothing but the noises of the machines surrounding his partner sounded, not that Esposito expected anything more than that, and so he quietly continued, "As soon as we solve this case and we know that you're going to be all right, we're going to figure out a way to help you and Jenny out. You know, financially and with a new place to stay until you can figure out where you're going to live. Your house may be gone, but who knows, maybe this is a blessing in disguise. You've been saying that you wanted to get a bigger one as soon as you and Jenny had a child together. Now you can."

"I appreciate you staying with my boy despite the amount of work you must have to do, Javier," a voice said as it sounded from behind where Esposito was sitting.

"Mr. Ryan; James, I mean?" the detective quickly called out in surprise as the interruption startled him. "I don't… I'm sorry it's just… how did you get here so fast? I was planning to come to pick you up when you arrived."

The newcomer slowly walked over to stand on the other side of Kevin's bed and then gently lifted his lifeless hand into his own as he replied, "I was lucky to be able to catch an earlier flight here. How is my son doing?"

Javier looked back down at his partner and answered sadly, "He's in bad shape. I swore to his wife back when they first became engaged that I would protect him. I failed. None of this should have happened."

"I know Kevin wouldn't blame you for any of this, Javier," James responded. "After growing up surrounded by four sisters, a friendship like the one the two of you have means the world to him."

"All Kevin did was protect me," Esposito replied in frustration. "And then after everything happened last night, no one was supposed to find out what when on in that apartment complex and who took that shot. As far as Beckett, Castle, and I know, there's no way anyone has."

Javier continued to tell Ryan's father everything that happened last night, aside from the details that weren't necessary for him to know about and then the man asked, "Are you still here because you feel an obligation to be, or are you all afraid that whoever did this to my son will come back?"

Esposito looked at his partner's father and answered, "We believe his life is still at stake, but I don't feel obligated to be here, Sir. I'm here because I want to be. His friendship means everything to me too. I almost lost sight of that once, but he helped me to remember it. I owe him a lot."

"If I know my son at all, I know that he'll make sure you get the chance to repay him," James Ryan responded resolutely.

Meanwhile…

After leaving Kort's house once again, Castle and Beckett drove to visit with the man that Donovan claimed was his son's best friend. When they arrived, Beckett tried knocking on his door four times. However, no one answered and unfortunately there was nothing more they could do until later that day when Donovan mentioned that he would be at work. If they couldn't find him there, then they'd just have to keep searching for him.

Just under an hour later, they arrived back at the hospital to find Esposito sitting in a chair outside of Kevin's room, until he saw them approached and stood, then said, "His father is in with him now. He arrived about an hour ago. I told him we'd give him some time alone with him."

"How is he?" Kate asked quietly.

"He's doing the same as before," Javier replied sullenly. "Did you have luck in getting any more information from Kort? Did he do this?"

Castle answered, "We still think that he's involved somehow, but I don't think he was involved directly. We have a small lead, but when we went to try to find him, he wasn't there. We'll search again when it gets a little later."

Esposito responded, "Good."


	15. Chapter 15

Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold

Chapter Fifteen

Later that afternoon, Beckett and Castle drove to the diner where Robbie Kort's friend was working in order to ask him about Donovan's alibi on the night Ryan was attacked, while Javier had finally gone home to rest, leaving his partner's protection in the hands of a couple of armed policemen outside of his room.

Just as Donovan had claimed, the friend at the diner confirmed that Kort was indeed there at the time. However, the alibi was shaky at best. Both the detective and writer suspected that he was not being completely truthful about something, but what it was they weren't sure. For all they knew, he could have been lying about him being there at all, as there was nothing but the young man's word that he was there. There was no receipt or video camera footage to show proof.

Two days passed by and Christmas Eve came, but Beckett, Esposito, and Castle had yet to find a new lead in their case and there was still no change in Ryan's condition. The youngest detective had yet to wake up and was still on a ventilator as he still wasn't breathing on his own. The doctors assured them that the knife wound was slowly beginning to heal, as well as the burns left behind during his attack, but until he woke up and began to act like himself again, none of that really mattered to them.

Javier, Kate, Rick, and Lanie spent most of the day in the hospital sitting around Kevin's bedside, but around seven o'clock, Javier turned to the others as he spoke up saying, "All of you can go ahead and get out of here if you'd like. I'm sure each of you has somewhere to be tonight."

Castle responded, "Our plans have changed. We're not planning on leaving you to stay here all alone."

"I won't be alone," Esposito replied. "Kev and I were just about to get into a game of chess. Neither one of us is that good, but we've been teaching each other. Besides, each of you have family to spend Christmas with and seeing as I don't and Jenny is with hers, who better than to stay here?"

"Javi, you shouldn't… I mean, this isn't fair for either one of you to be stuck here, least of all through the holidays," Lanie answered. "If you're staying, then I'm staying."

Esposito shook his head in objection as he responded, "Lanie, no I…"

Lanie interrupted, "I wasn't asking your permission to stay. Kevin is my friend too and in all honesty, I only told you I had plans with my family so that you didn't embarrass yourself with asking me to spend them with you."

"Thank you, Lanie," Javier replied, knowing that she was lying to make him feel better about her having to miss out on her plans to stay there with him and Ryan.

"Beckett and I are going to stay too," Castle said.

Lanie looked between Castle and her best friend as she answered, "I don't think so. I know for a fact that the two of you do have plans with your Alexis, Martha, and Kate, your father too. Go and be with them. We'll be fine here."

The women stood up from their chairs as Kate pulled Lanie into a hug and then responded solemnly, "Merry Christmas to you both. Be sure to give us a call if anything changes?"

"We will," Esposito replied as he shook Castle's hand and then hugged Beckett before they turned to leave. "Who knows, maybe we'll have a Christmas miracle."

"If that happens, then maybe I won't be such a cynic anymore," Kate answered. "All though, then we'll have two miracles tonight."

Javier spent most of his time with his partner in the hospital on Christmas Day as well and Kevin's conditioned hadn't changed at all. The night wasn't over, but the chances of a miracle occurring were growing more slim. However, an incident that occurred that night did finally change the silence in their case, giving the former sniper a chance to catch those responsible for assaulting Kevin, as a second attack against him was attempted after he had started to drift off to sleep.

A young man dressed in scrubs walked quietly into Detective Ryan's room and as he stood at the bedside, the man pulled out a syringe from his pocket and moved to inject the needle's contents into the detective's IV while he kept one eye on the one sitting in the chair, but as soon as he chanced looking away in order to make sure that he was inserting the needle right into the right tube, Javier suddenly jumped up from his chair on the other side of the bed and quickly yanked back hard on the assailant's hand to break it, then swiftly pulled out the tube in Ryan's hand in hope of stopping the drug from entering his system, as all of the machines hooked up to his partner began to wail.

However, the move to protect his partner was enough of a distraction for the attacker to grab the IV pole and smash it hard over the back of Esposito's head and after doing so, the young man ran as Javier regained his balance, then checked on Ryan before chasing after him through the halls, as did the policemen standing guard outside of his room, who were both stunned when the attacker ran past them moments ago. Unfortunately, Ryan's assailant was much faster than the detective expected and he managed to escape.

Esposito gave up his pursuit and ran back to Kevin's room in fear for his life. The doctors had quieted the machines, but when he ran inside the room, one of the nurses came up to him to keep him back while the doctors worked to help his partner, as he could now see that in his struggle with Kevin's attacker, blood was trickling out of his arm and hand where the IVs had been inserted and the breathing tube from his mouth had been pulled out.

A few minutes later, one of the doctors turned to Esposito and quietly said, "He isn't awake yet, detective, but it looks like someone up there is keeping an eye out for him. He's finally breathing on his own. As of right now, I think it's safe to say that he's out of critical condition and is most likely going to be just fine."

Javier smiled and reached out to shake the doctor's hand and then turned back to his partner as the doctors and nurses left the room to leave them alone. After staring down at him, Esposito finally pulled out his phone to call Beckett, but when she didn't answer, he quickly called up Castle, hoping that wherever they were, they were together.

When he answered, Javier spoke up saying, "You and Beckett need to get down here. We've just been attacked by I'm guessing whoever it was that attacked Kev in the first place. I didn't get him, but I did get a good look at the scumbag."

Kate quickly called out, "_Is Kevin all right?_"

"Yeah, I think he's going to be fine," Javier answered in relief.


	16. Chapter 16

Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold

Chapter Sixteen

Late into the next morning, harsh knocks sounded on Calvin Wickham's front door of his apartment, alerting him to unknown and unwanted visitors. At first, he didn't plan to open up to whoever it was standing outside it, as he was busy packing up to leave town, but since the pounding became more persistent, he finally gave in and grudgingly opened the door. However, as soon as he saw who was standing there, he took off running toward the window overlooking the fire escape and started climbing down it as fast as he could, followed closely by those at the door; the police, one of whom was the partner of the detective in the hospital.

Esposito barged his way in and was hot on Calvin's heels. As soon as the man reached the ground, the detective suddenly jumped down on top of him from where he was, two stories above him, successfully tackling him down on the ground and then roughly pulled his arms around his back in order to handcuff him.

"Hold still, Wickham, or you'll end up with more than a few bruises and scrapes!" Esposito called out angrily.

"What's going on?" Calvin asked, though he already knew what the answer was. "What do you want with me?"

Beckett moved into the man's line of sight as Esposito heaved him up off the ground and she replied, "You're under arrest, Mr. Wickham, for the attempted murder of Detective Ryan of the NYPD."

Calvin answered gruffly, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Actually, I think you do," Beckett continued. "Unless of course you don't think we'd be able to figure out who you were when you attacked our friend last night."

"I got a good look at your face, moron," Javier added when he roughly pulled him upright and turned him around to face him as he shoved him hard up against the wall of the apartment building. "You attacked my partner and then hit me over the head with an IV pole. I want to know why. Who the hell are you?"

The man responded, "I owed someone a favor. I don't know the cop and I don't know what he did to tick off the guy, but I did what I had to do."

Castle spoke up saying, "Keep talking, who is so important that you would try to kill a detective for?"

"I just want to know one thing," Calvin replied as he glared at Esposito while he continued to hold him against the wall. "How did you know I was trying to kill your partner? I am, or was a nurse there. For all you could have known, I was only giving him something to help him."

"I've got a thing for faces," Esposito answered coldly. "I remember them and I remember yours really well from when I saw you standing outside of the apartment where Donovan Kort's boy died. Let me guess, was the friend you were doing a favor for Donovan Kort? Did he ask you to kill my partner because he killed his son?"

Calvin responded, "I don't know who this Kort is, but you're wrong and I'm done talking."

Beckett grabbed the man's arm and shoved him forward and both she and Javier guided him toward their car as she replied, "If you're really done talking, then you'll be going down for two counts of attempted murder, which for all we know, it's possible that you were involved in the initial attack against him the same night his house was torched to the ground. We know that there were at least two attackers thanks to a few witnesses who claimed they saw two people run out of his house after the fire started, but if you don't want to help us, we have no problem with letting you take the full rap for this."

"Look, I didn't attack your friend that night, all right," Wickham answered. "Someone that did me a favor for me a long time ago did and because I owed him, I helped him out."

"By trying to kill off a detective?" Castle responded sarcastically. "Because that's no big deal at all."

Calvin continued, "The truth is, it wasn't just a favor. He said he was going to pay me money that I really needed. However, since I failed, well… I'm sure you know the rest."

Castle replied, "Not totally. We're still waiting for you to tell us who did this."

"I went to visit him the night your detective shot and killed the kid for another matter," Calvin answered. "He was with some other kid, who saw the whole incident and seemed to be pretty angry. I think he said something about him being his brother, or something like…"

"Wait a minute, what do you mean that the kid was his brother?" Esposito asked after he shoved Calvin into their car, then looked over at Beckett, who looked at him with surprise, and back at Wickham. "Do you mean the dead kid's brother?"

Wickham responded, "Yeah, I think so. The guy said so anyway. I didn't really care who he was. On Christmas night, the same two asked me to enter into the detective's hospital room to quietly finish him off because I worked there and it should have been easy. I just had no idea that you would have recognized me."

Javier impatiently asked again, "For the last time, who is your friend that asked you to kill my partner?"

"His name is Mick O'Connell," Calvin replied. "Look, for what it's worth, I'm sorry. I was a fool to agree to get roped in with a couple of guys that killed two women and then tried to kill a cop, but I really needed that money and surely you can understand what it means to make good on a debt."

"I wouldn't try to kill someone," Castle answered.

Kate looked over at Javier and then back at their suspect and asked, "Did this, O'Connell actually tell you that he and his friend, the kid who you claim is also the brother of the dead kid, killed two women before all of this?"

Wickham nodded as he responded, "No, but I overheard them talking about killing them before I met up with them."

"We need an address where we can find them, Mr. Wickham," Beckett said firmly. "If you help us catch them, you just might get a slightly better sentence."

"Not that you deserve it," Javier spoke up again gloomily. "You will pay for hurting my partner again. I promise you that."


	17. Chapter 17

Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold

Chapter Seventeen

Back at the hospital…

Detective Ryan reawakened for a second time, the first time very briefly on Christmas night after the second attempt on his life, while Javier chased after his attacker. This time, he was surprisingly alert and very quickly starting to remember exactly what landed him there in the hospital, noticing that he was alone and being protected by a couple of guards outside of his room. He figured that his partner, Beckett, and Castle must have been out trying to solve a case, not knowing whether or not it was the same case that involved what had happened to him, otherwise he knew that Javier would be sitting at his bedside out of loyalty, just as he would be at his if the situation was reversed.

After a few minutes of familiarizing himself with his surroundings, Kevin finally started to rise off the bed, ignoring what pain he felt through the exertion, and carefully stood up as he slowly pulled out the IVs from his arm and wrist. At first he felt dizzy, but once he was confident he could remain standing and begin to move around without complications, he slowly walked toward the door and as the two guards turned around to find him behind them, they tried to urge Ryan to lie back down and rest until his friends returned.

Ryan ignored them and then asked, "Where are Detectives Esposito and Beckett right now? Are they out chasing down a suspect?"

One of the men answered, "We believe so, Detective Ryan, but you shouldn't worry about any of that right now. We're here to make sure you're safe until any of them get back."

"So they are still out tracking down the men that did this to me," Kevin responded to no one in particular.

"Do you want us to call a doctor for you, Sir?" the other guard asked.

Ryan shook his head as he slowly moved to where he noticed his clothes lying on a table near his bed and replied, "Thanks, but I'm not going to be staying in here any longer. I'm leaving."

The first man objected as he said, "Detective, you're hardly in any shape to leave and besides, there are people out there that have tried to kill you, more than once."

"I know," Kevin answered solemnly as he reached down and rubbed his hand over the wound in his abdomen. "I can clearly see those men with a knife in their hands and the flames that destroyed my home, which is why the others need my help."

"They're probably out apprehending those men right now," the man responded. "They seemed confident."

Ryan replied, "And maybe not. I'm all right, I promise. If you feel it your responsibility to keep protecting me until I'm out of the woods, I could use a ride back to the station?"

The second officer answered, "I guess that we have no choice. We'll be waiting outside for you whenever you're ready."

"You're foolish if you think you're in any condition to leave here, detective," a doctor spoke up quickly as he walked over to them after overhearing Ryan's conversation between him and the two guards, while they went back to their posts.

"You're probably right, doc, but as I just finished telling them, I have no choice," Kevin responded. "It's been long enough for me to move around and if the pain becomes worse… Don't worry, I can handle it. I won't just rest while my friends are putting their lives on the line for me. My boss may not allow me to work on the clock, but that's never stopped any of us from working until the job's done anyway."

The doctor nodded and asked, "Are you always this stubborn?"

Ryan smiled and replied, "Just ask my partner."

Meanwhile…

After they finished apprehending Calvin Wickham, Beckett, Castle, and Esposito brought him back to the station where they could further interrogate him and explain the situation to Captain Gates. There were also many pieces that needed to be put together still, as they still needed to figure out the identities of the men that assaulted their friend, one of whom they now knew was a man by the name of Mick O'Connell.

Once they finished sharing this with Gates, the captain spoke up as she asked, "And are you absolutely certain that Wickham is telling you the truth about this O'Connell and his friend being the men that not only attacked Detective Ryan, but also were the ones that murdered the two women from our initial investigation?"

"All he cares about now is for a lighter sentence," Kate answered. "He knows that even the attempted murder of a cop is enough for life in prison and though we haven't given him a guarantee that we'll shorten that for him, he believes that we'll help him and I believe we should give him what he wants. I believe he's telling the truth. Besides, he has no motive as far as we can tell for wanting Ryan dead."

"Beckett's right," Javier continued. "Also, once we've looked into Wickham's financials, I have no doubt that we'll find a recent large transfer that will match the amount he claims was given to him for trying to kill Ryan for a second time so that those responsible for all of this can remain in hiding like cowards. Now all we have to do is figure out who O'Connell is and who his friend is."

"I think that I might be able to help you with that," Ryan responded as he slowly walked into the precinct's main room where the others were all either sitting or standing around their desks.

Javier moved to help his partner sit down as Castle quickly asked, "How did you get here? How are you even out of bed and why?"

After he sat down at his own desk, Kevin replied, "I had a feeling that you would need my help finding the men you're looking for. I saw their faces clearly that night. I can identify them with complete certainty and if the man you have in holding isn't one of them, then I agree with Beckett and Esposito about lightening his sentence."

"We appreciate you being here, despite the fact that you're clearly in no condition to be out of that hospital bed, detective, but…" the captain began until Ryan cut her off.

"Until this is all over, I am asking you to let me stay, Captain," Ryan pleaded firmly. "Obviously, I won't try to chase after them if they try to run, or try to fight with them if they pick a fight with us. I don't care about what they've done to me personally, but they burned down mine and Jenny's home and because of them an innocent kid was killed by me. I can't just wait around for news that they've finally been caught."

As Captain Gates thought over Ryan's words, Castle spoke up again saying, "Let him stay, Ma'am… I mean, Sir. We'll make sure Ryan takes care of himself."

The woman glared at Castle and then answered, "Castle, I don't trust you with much, but I'm going to leave it to you to make sure that's true and if he gets out of line once, it's your head. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Castle responded grimly.

"Good, now find those men and put this mess behind us once and for all," she replied as she finally turned and went back into her office.

As she did, Ryan turned to his partner and asked quietly, "Since she wasn't at the hospital, I take it Jenny's gone to visit with her sister down in Connecticut? Is she all right?"

Javier nodded and then answered, "She'll be happy to hear that you're awake and out of the hospital. You do realize you're a fool, right?"

"So I've already been told," Kevin responded.

"Okay then, just as long as we're on the same page," Esposito replied. "It's good to see you back with us, Bro. Now we can finally make these scumbags pay for trying to split us up."


	18. Chapter 18

Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold

Chapter Eighteen

Over the next hour, Kevin worked with a sketch artist to get photos of the two men he saw in his house the night he was stabbed and then left to die in the fire that destroyed his home. Javier sat down beside his partner so that he'd be able to get him anything if he needed it and then once the sketches were finished, he'd be able to run them through the databases as soon as possible.

In the meantime, Beckett and Castle sat down again with Wickham to let him know that a deal would be made so long as the information he had given them was indeed accurate. Then, they both walked into the break room and made themselves a coffee while they discussed the situation at hand.

"So, it's great that Ryan's going to be all right and already back at work, huh?" Castle asked as he looked at Beckett while she slowly stirred the creamer she had poured moments before into her cappuccino, thanks to Castle getting their precinct the machine back when they had all first started working together.

"Yeah, it's great," she replied less enthusiastically. "I'm glad he's back, but none of this should have happened in the first place. How did this case suddenly become so out of control and come to compromise everything? And what if what we do now only makes Kevin worse? He may be back, but he's far from being out of the woods."

Castle nodded and then answered, "You're focusing on the negative. You're right, he is far from being out of the woods and what we do next may worsen his condition, but he is determined to be a part of bringing down these guys and I think that despite the dangers, he has every right to do so. It's a way of beginning his healing process."

Kate looked over at him as she responded, "You're right, but…"

"And as for the rest of what you're worried about, you, me, and Javier couldn't have helped what happened to him," Rick interrupted to continue what he was going to say. "I know he wouldn't have done anything different if he knew that his actions in killing Kort's son that night would have led to all of this, even though he's worried about Jenny and the fact that they are both now homeless. I also know that both you and Esposito would have done the exact same thing despite the risks. I don't know how an everyday case turned into all of this, but like always, we will find the men responsible and bring them to justice; of this, I have no doubt."

"I wish I had your confidence," Beckett replied.

Castle smiled as he said, "You do. You just don't realize it right now. Ryan will be done soon and then hopefully your databases will be able to give us a match and address for our killers. Do you really believe that what Wickham said about one of them being Robbie Kort's brother is right?"

Beckett answered, "He certainly sounded positive when he told us. If it is, then we may have just figured out how Donovan is involved. He's trying to protect his only other son, who he obviously didn't want anyone to know about, seeing as he isn't mentioned at all when we ran Donovan's name."

"Maybe this kid came into town to try to find his long lost family, since Donovan had obviously gave him away or sent him away some time ago and while in town he and a friend of his decided to have a little fun, you know, with our first two victims in this whole mess," Castle explained as he began to work through the information they knew so far throughout this case.

"Okay, but how would this kid and his friend pay for two call girls, especially one who was the boss of the service?" Kate asked. "I mean, I suppose it's possible that one of them has money, but why would the boss of a call girl service choose to meet with them. They could have sent anyone."

Rick responded, "Maybe they knew one of the women or both of them. What I want to know is how did our killers know that Ryan was the one that killed Robbie and how did they know where to find him?"

A thought suddenly occurred to her as Kate replied, "They were there."

"What do you mean?" Castle asked in confusion. "They were where?"

"Both Donovan's other son and his friend," Beckett answered as she turned to look over at Rick. "The son was probably there at that apartment complex that night to visit with his brother and for some reason had brought his friend along with him. However, when Ryan and Esposito arrived, he and his friend had already started to leave the building before Robbie was killed and they overheard the struggle, which probably caused them to find out what was going on. I'll bet you they both witnessed Kevin shoot Robbie and because they were all probably there getting high on the meth that night, the drugs would have heightened both of their emotions as they did to Robbie, making them angry enough to want to take their revenge out on Ryan while they could and they could have followed him home."

Castle responded, "That makes sense. Thank goodness Jenny wasn't at home any earlier, otherwise she would probably have been killed."

Esposito walked into the break room carrying a couple of papers in his hand and spoke up saying, "He's finished with the sketches. I've already put them into the computer to begin the search. Now, we're only waiting for the results. It's only a matter of time."

"That's good," Kate replied. "There's not much more we can do."

"I wouldn't mind getting a hotel room to stay in so that I could find someplace that's more comfortable if waiting's all we're doing," Ryan answered as he stiffly walked up behind his partner. "I know I can't do anymore until we locate them."

Javier responded quickly, "Not a chance, you're staying at my place until you and Jenny find a new house to live in."

Ryan looked at his partner and replied, "I appreciate that, but I don't want to impose."

"Bro, please, you wouldn't be imposing," Javier said. "Besides, I've got plenty of room, at least until Jenny gets back. After that, we'll all do what we can to help you both."

"Thank you," Kevin answered. "I think…"

All of a sudden, one of the other detectives inside the precinct came running over to them as he spoke up saying, "Your results have come back, detectives. It looks like whoever you're searching for is in the system."

Castle responded, "Well, it looks like our waiting time isn't nearly as long as we thought."

"Thank God," Kate replied. "Kev, are you sure you're up to coming along with us to apprehend them? And you promise not to exert yourself?"

"I promise," Ryan answered as he stood up as straight as he could, trying to look like he was strong enough for anything that was coming. "Let's go get them so that we can end this once and for all. I just want to see my wife again and put this all behind me."


	19. Chapter 19

Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold

Chapter Nineteen

The detectives and writer arrived outside of the last known address of an ex con by the name of Mick O'Connell, one of the two men that Detective Ryan quickly identified as one of the men that attacked him and burnt down his and his wife's home, the same man that stabbed him in his abdomen. The second man, who was now known to be Brett Jansen, a man whom they also suspected of being Donovan Kort's unknown son, had no known address, at least not here in New York.

While Ryan and another cop for his protection waited in the car, as the youngest detective of their little family had promised his friends that he wouldn't do anything that would risk putting himself back in the hospital, Beckett, Esposito, and Castle all slowly climbed the stairs leading up to the apartment, followed by a number of heavily armed officers used for back-up should the two men fire upon them. Beckett knocked loudly on the door twice and when no one answered, two cops with a battering ram knocked the door down and they all barged into the place, only to find that it was empty.

As they walked through the apartment in search of anything that might help the detectives find where the two wanted men had gone, Esposito looked down on the desk and slowly reached down to pick up a watch, a watch which he recognized was his partner's, which meant a great deal to Kevin as it was given to him by his father, despite it not being financially worth much. Javier didn't even notice it had been stolen, but he figured the assailants took it because they thought it would be worth something more than what it actually was.

Esposito placed the watch in his pocket as Beckett walked over to him and asked, "Did you find something, Javi?"

The former marine answered angrily, "Only Kev's watch. These scumbags must have stolen it of him when they attacked him. There's nothing here that indicates where they've gone, is there?"

"No, it doesn't look like it," Beckett replied in frustration. "But we're not at a loss just yet. We're going to go have yet another visit with Donovan. We don't have proof that this Brett Jansen is indeed his son, but if we were to let him know that we suspect it, hopefully he'll get flustered and give himself away. We may be able to use him to lure Brett out, as well as his friend, O'Connell."

"I look forward to coming face to face with him again," Javier responded. "If he's protecting the kid…"

Kate interrupted, "If he's protecting them, then we'll charge him for aiding and abetting two criminals. We'll get him to talk, Javi. Castle and I have already established a good rapport with the man."

Castle added, "If you call the kind of rapport we've developed with him good, then I think you ought to find a dictionary and look up the meaning of the word. As I recall, he doesn't like us very much and I doubt he'll be in the mood to cooperate. Besides, the man went to great lengths to make sure no one knew Jansen was his son. How do we know if he'll care what happens to him?"

"We don't, but we don't have much of a choice," Beckett answered. "We just have to hope that fatherly intuition isn't lost on him completely."

Just less than an hour later, they arrived once again at Donovan Kort's residence and as expected, the large man wasn't happy to see them back for a third time, as he was nervous that they now knew what he's been trying to hide for so long. However, he invited them in nonetheless to avoid trouble. If he was going to get caught in his deception, then trying to evade them any longer wouldn't help him.

"Detectives, Mr. Castle, what can I do for you now?" Donovan asked coldly. "Surely there is nothing more I can help you with in your case. I don't know anything."

Esposito was about to say something in anger, but before he could get the man riled up, Beckett cut him off as she replied, "We're here because we just have a few more questions for you that might help us prove who's responsible for the attempt on our detective's life."

Kort responded, "I've already told you all I know, Detective Beckett. I see that another detective has joined you as well."

"This is Detective Ryan, the man who was attacked that night," Kate answered.

"The men that attacked me that night didn't just nearly kill me, Mr. Kort," Kevin replied solemnly as he stiffly walked in behind his partner. "Then, they destroyed my home. I was lucky to have survived, but what bothers me is that I was told my wife arrived shortly after the fire started. If she had arrived any sooner, they would have tried to kill her too. I am asking you to please help me find the men that are responsible if you can."

Donovan stared at Ryan as he asked Beckett, "What more do you want to know?"

Kate responded, "The two men we're looking for go by the names, Mick O'Connell and Brett Jansen. We have reason to believe that you might know who they are and possibly where we can find them. We tried to go to the known address we have on one of them, but unfortunately, neither one of them were there."

"What makes you think I know who they are?" Donovan asked again.

"Because we were given a tip," Castle answered. "We don't know if it'll pan out and truthfully, I don't think it will, but it certainly doesn't help to ask."

Donovan replied, "Well, unfortunately you're right, writer. I don't know who either one of them are."

Rick looked over at Kate, who shook her head and then responded, "Unfortunately, that's not what we heard, Mr. Kort and we have a good reason to believe that you're the one who's lying to us. You see, we think that the second man we mentioned, Brett Jansen, is your son, thanks to another man that was hired, by these two suspects, to try to finish Detective Ryan off after their first attempt failed. They weren't very smart to do that. You see, this suspect mentioned that he overheard Jansen say something about your other son, you know, the son that you actually admit was your son, being his brother. The funny thing is, we did some research on Jansen and there's nothing that indicates he's related to you in anyway, but why would he say that to his partner in the crime if it wasn't true?"

"There's also something else we've discovered, Mr. Kort," Esposito spoke up suddenly as a thought suddenly occurred to him. "The man, whose name you gave to us as your alibi, walked into the station last night and confessed that he had been coerced into lying about you being there at the café, at least at the time he had initially said you were. Do you care to tell us the truth this time or do we have to drag you into the station with your hands locked behind your back and then lock you up behind bars?"

Beckett, Castle, and Ryan all looked over at him in surprise as Kort began to look really nervous, then he finally broke down as he answered, "I was there at the café, but I was a little later than what we told you and yes it's true, Brett Jansen is my son, at least by blood only. If you want to know the rest, including where he might be hiding, I'll tell you, but only in exchange for complete immunity."

"This doesn't work like that, Kort," Beckett replied as she turned the man around and cuffed his hands behind his back. "We'll see what we can do for you in exchange for your help, but if you think you're going to get off scot free, you're wrong. Perhaps the ride back to the station will make you reconsider your last statement."

"So, how on earth did you know that his alibi for that day was false?" Castle asked as he leaned over. "What made you think that by telling him he walked into the station to confess he was lying would push him over?"

Javier smiled at his friend and responded, "I didn't. I was just hoping to make him nervous."

Ryan spoke up again as he said, "Thank you, Javi."

"No problem, Bro," he answered.


	20. Chapter 20

Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold

Chapter Twenty

After Beckett finished cuffing Kort's hands, she led him outside and shoved him into the back seat of her car. Castle walked out after her and sat down on the passenger's seat, followed by Ryan and Esposito, who both got into Esposito's car and then began to follow after Beckett and Castle back to their precinct. During the drive, Kort remained silent, as his anger toward the detectives swelled within him.

Javier kept looking over at his partner in concern, as he could see that the lack of rest was making him feel more and more uncomfortable, but the younger man didn't complain, as him being there was of his own doing. Esposito did all of the talking for them as they drove back to the station in hope of taking Ryan's mind off of the pain and remorse he was feeling over everything's that's happened over the last month. It worried the former marine that his best friend allowed him to do so, as it indicated that he was feeling worse than what he was willing to admit.

However, Ryan finally spoke up softly saying, "I spoke with Jenny's sister last night. She told me that Jenny's been having a hard time. She won't admit it to me herself."

Esposito responded, "You can't blame yourself for the fear she's feeling, Kev. If anyone's to blame…"

"Why shouldn't I blame myself for what she's going through?" Kevin asked angrily as he cut his partner off. "I know that there was nothing else I could have done that night and I certainly don't regret saving you, Javi, but why did I have to agree to go home that night? If I hadn't, these bastards wouldn't have followed me home and I could have avoided all of this."

"Maybe, but most likely they just would have followed you home later that night as well and both you and Jenny would have been attacked and probably killed," Esposito replied. "If you think you're to blame for what happened, then by your theory so are Beckett and me, since we were the ones that convinced you to go home. Put the blame where it belongs; on the scum that did this."

Just as Ryan was about to say something in objection, he turned to look over toward his partner and then suddenly shouted out, "Javi, look out!"

Before Esposito could react, another car suddenly crashed hard into them, causing the former marine to lose control of the vehicle as it skimmed hard across the intersection about a mile from the precinct until it finally flipped over twice and then came to hard stop as it crashed through the front of market window.

Both Beckett and Castle saw this occur through the rearview window and as it did, the detective slammed hard on the breaks and then called out for back up on her radio as she bolted from the car before racing out and then began to fire toward their friend's assailants, who started to fire on them as they exited their car to take cover and continue on in their attack. Castle moved to shove Donovan Kort down below the back seat in order to keep him from trying to run, as he and Beckett recognized the men to be the same men they have been searching for all this time. The final showdown has come and both Detective Ryan's and Esposito's lives are at stake as Kate and Rick had no idea what their condition was.

When both Beckett and their attackers paused to changes the clips in their weapons, the attacker Beckett and Castle knew to be Jansen, Kort's son, called out angrily, "Release your prisoner now or we'll finish off your friends, if they're not already dead! We're closer to them than you are!"

"How did they know we had Kort?" Castle asked as he cautiously made his way over to Beckett, who was continuing to fire upon Brett and his friend. "It's like one of them is a fly on the wall. They've got an uncanny sense of timing."

"What the hell are you doing out here?" Kate cried out as she kept her eyes on the fight, hoping that their back up would arrive quickly, as she was running out of ammo. "You should be watching over Kort!"

Rick answered, "I knocked him out and tied him in with the seatbelt. He isn't going anywhere. Where's our back up?"

Beckett pulled him down as he carefully looked up above their cover when the assailants paused again to reload in order to check on his friends and then she responded, "Stay down! They should be here any second. It's not like the station's that far away. We just need to keep them distracted long enough until they arrive and then we can go help Esposito and Ryan. I'm sure they're fine."

"They may be, but you're not," Mick O'Connell replied as he snuck up from behind them and pointed his gun straight at them and was about to fire.

"You're wrong," a bloodied and battered Esposito said brusquely while he fired his own weapon at O'Connell as he stiffly and painfully made it out of the wreckage of their car to save his friends once he saw that they were in danger.

O'Connell collapsed to the ground as the bullet from Esposito's gun struck him in his chest, killing him instantly, and when Jansen saw this he was about to kill Esposito, who was now out in the open, but it was then that the detectives' back up finally arrived, forcing Kort's son to drop his gun and lay down on the ground in defeat.

Kate and Rick quickly made their way over to Javier as Kate quickly called out fearfully, "Where's Kevin? Is he all right?"

"He's still alive, but he's unconscious and hurt pretty bad, again," Esposito answered angrily as he swiftly made his way back over to their car and began to work on pulling his partner out as carefully and gently as he could.

Beckett and Castle worked to help Esposito get their friend out until the firemen and paramedics arrived to take over for them. As he was already wounded and hurting before the crash occurred, Kevin was by far in the worst shape. However, Javier was also hurt and so Beckett and Castle finally managed to convince him to travel to the hospital with Ryan in the ambulance in order to get treatment himself, while they stayed behind with several more firemen and paramedics to help all of the bystanders, who were injured during the attack.

It was almost four weeks later when Kevin finally woke up again and found he was hooked up to multiple IVs and machines, with a tube that ran along his face from under his nose, and that his wife, his partner, as well as Kate and Rick were all gathered around his bedside. Though he was groggy, he could see that each of them were tired and feared for his wellbeing, but as soon as they noticed he was awake, they all smiled down at him and Jenny leaned down and gently kissed his cheek, as tears of relief fell from her eyes down her face.

"Thank God," Javier said softly as he reached down and gently patted his friend's shoulder. "You need to promise us that you won't ever scare us like that again, Bro. The doctors didn't think you were going to make it."

Jenny looked up at her husband's partner and then back down at Kevin as she replied, "They said that the wounds you sustained in the crash on top of the ones you had sustained in the attack earlier were too great and that you weren't strong enough to withstand the damage done, but…"

When she couldn't finish, Castle stepped in as he continued, "You proved that the doctors didn't know what they were talking about. They always underestimate a person's strength and will to live."

"What hap… happened?" Kevin weakly asked, his friends knowing that he was referring to both of their assailants.

"Both Jansen and his father, who we have now positively confirmed is indeed biologically his father, are now behind bars where they belong," Kate answered as she moved forward so that Ryan could see her without having to strain himself. "Jansen will be in prison for the rest of his life and will most likely receive the death penalty, since we've now confirmed that he and O'Connell were definitely the ones that killed both Vivian and Jane Kirkpatrick as well. Kort will get out eventually, as his charges weren't that serious, but I don't think he'll be much of a problem anymore."

Esposito spoke up again as he added, "And O'Connell is dead. After he and Jansen attacked us, he tried to take out Beckett and Castle, but I managed to make it out of our wreck of a car in time to save them. If you hadn't have shouted out a warning before we were hit, we would both be dead right now too, as their car was heading straight at my side of the car. I turned just before they hit us in the back end instead."

Ryan closed his eyes as the weariness he felt made him feel exhausted and weak and then he opened them again and asked quietly, "So, it's over?"

"Yeah, it's over, Bro," Javier replied as relief sounded in his voice. "Just take it easy and worry about getting yourself better. We'll take care of everything else."

"I'm so… sorry," Kevin said painfully to his wife just above a whisper as his weariness finally overwhelmed him and he slowly began to fall back asleep. "I'm sor…"

Jenny gently stroked her hand across his cheek as she sat down beside him on his bed and responded solemnly, "You have nothing to apologize for, Kevin; nothing. It all worked out in the end. You just have to work on getting yourself well again. Everything else can wait. We'll be all right."

Over the next several weeks, Ryan focused on getting well as Jenny and his friends worked on making sure that everything was ready for them for when he would get out of the hospital. Jenny found a temporary home for them to stay in until either a more permanent one could be found, or a new one could be rebuilt in place of the one that was destroyed.

On the night he was finally discharged, Castle threw a huge party at his loft to celebrate Ryan's homecoming. Lanie, Martha, Alexis, Ryan's father and sisters were all there as well, and even Captain Gates came to welcome Kevin back. The party lasted late into the night and the next day they found that the party had turned into quite the event, as several celebrities ended up showing up throughout the evening, thanks to Castle turning it into a much bigger spectacle than he meant to.

It wasn't until six weeks later that Ryan was finally able to come back to work and he was grateful to be able to do so, but he couldn't help but feel uncomfortable, as he was afraid that he wasn't going to be able to be the same cop he was before his confidence in himself had been severely shaken.

After Kevin confessed this to his partner one night while they were on their way to pick up a suspect in their latest case, Javier turned to him and said, "You'll always be the best partner and best friend I'll ever have, Kev, and if anyone tries to say otherwise, I'll make them eat mud until they apologize. You're going to be the same as you always were, I'm sure of it."

"I couldn't have survived this without you, Javi," Kevin replied sincerely. "Thank you."

"It's what partners do," Javier stated firmly. "Now, let's go show this scumbag how foolish he was to try to cross us. You ready?"

Ryan smiled and answered, "Yeah, I'm ready."

The End


End file.
